Hard to Believe
by Geheim
Summary: The fourth book, before the Yule Ball. Harry has already been turned down by Cho, and Ginny hasn't been asked by Neville. Ron puts forth the idea of Harry going with Ginny and Harry sees no reason not to ask her. H/G
1. Pressure

Disclaimer- Harry Potter is J. K. Rowling's, I don't own any of it.

oo0oo

**Pressure**

Ginny was sitting in the common room, looking like she was studying, but was really thinking about Harry. She knew this wasn't helpful toward her attempts to get rid of her stupid little girl crush, but couldn't stop herself. It was a regular activity, she'd sit down and think about the times they'd had in each other's presence the last couple of months. 'This is the last time, after this, I'm done, I'm over him.' She remembered when Harry had first come to the Burrow last summer. Her brothers and father had gone to get him, and she'd hoped Hermione would ask to go along, because then it wouldn't be strange if she did. But she didn't, and when Harry got there he smiled at the two of them and she immediately felt herself blush, the Weasley trademark.

Then there was the World Cup, and after that, the Dark Mark 'd somehow ended up by Harry in the spectator's box and she really didn't pay that much attention to the game, which depressed her in retrospect, she was too busy watching Harry (without looking at him). And with the Dark Mark a bunch of racist pure bloods had gone rampaging through the campsites putting muggles on display doing ridiculous things. Fred, George, and Ginny had lost contact with the other three and the next thing they knew, there was the mark of You-Know-Who in the sky. Harry has always been able to get himself in the middle of everything, whether he wants to be there or not.

On the first day of school, she found out Hogwarts was hosting the Triwizard Tournament, which hadn't been done in centuries due to the death toll. Champions were selected from each school and he'd somehow managed to get his name pulled out of the goblet, along with another Hogwarts student. Even though there could be only one champion per school, and there were age restrictions. He fervently denied having anything to do with it, and Ginny believed him. Her stupid brother however, was jealous of Harry getting all the attention, as usual, and refused to have anything to do with him. The youngest Weasley really wished she could have been there for Harry, he looked so lonely those days, but her stupid infatuation would have gotten in the way and made it awkward. Harry would have been nice to her but would have felt uncomfortable with her fascination, and that's certainly understandable. At least Hermione was there, she and Harry spent ridiculous hours trying to prepare Harry to face a Hungarian Horntail. A bloody dragon! And while Harry had not only gotten the egg, he got the highest points out of the three schools doing some sensational flying to get the mother away from her egg.

Now there was the ball, McGonagall had called it the Yule Ball or something. Ginny could remember McGonagall telling her class about it. She'd selected a boy, her class's was Collin Creevey, and then danced with him showing the class what to do. Of course, this only applied to them if they were invited since the dance was only available to fourth years, Harry's year. The champions had to ask a girl, and then dance with them in front of the whole school. She didn't envy him on that part, but still desperately hoped he'd ask her, however unlikely it may be.

"No no no. I can't believe I just did that." Ron muttered, walking into the common room. He was displaying the Weasely trademark of turning beet red when having anything romantic to do with a person of the other sex. He had the family heirloom of flaming red hair, and was tall and lanky for his age. "Ginny why'd I do it?" Ron asked her, desperation clear on his face.

"Do what?"

"I asked Fleur Delacour to the ball with me. I can't believe I did that, in the entrance hall too, where everyone was watching." He sat down by her and dropped his head in his hands, confused and mortified at how badly he'd screwed up. Ginny felt like laughing but figured he needed her to be the dutiful sister and comfort him, however over dramatic her brother was being.

"Tell me what happened Ron." At that moment the portrait hole opened and Harry crawled in, saw us, and made his way over. He looked great as ever, Ginny thought, black messy hair and features that were comforting, yet the lightning bolt on his forehead making him look dangerous, until you got to know him. Harry was one of the nicest guys she knew, never teased her (the Weasley boys did enough of that) even when she blushed. She remembered a time before her first year, when he came over for summer and while he was at the Burrow she stuck her elbow in the butter dish. She was intensely embarrassed before that happened, but after, she couldn't even look at him.

"What's up Ron?" Harry asked, joining them.

Ron looked at his friend with abject horror on his face, "Why did I do it? What made me do it?"

"Erm do what?"

Ron merely shook his head and put his face in his hands, letting out a soft moan of despair. Ginny jumped in, "He-er- just asked Fleur Delacour to go to the ball with him." She was fighting back a smile but said it sympathetically and kept rubbing Ron's back.

"You did _what_?

"I don't know what I was thinking!" Ron gasped. "There were people everywhere, and she was talking to Diggory, and I just kind of asked her." He moaned again and continued, though he could barely be heard. "She looked at me like I was a slug or something, and I guess I just came to my senses and bolted."

"You were right, she's part veela. It wasn't your fault, she was probably working the charm on Diggory and you just got caught up in it. But it's not going to get her anywhere, he's going with Cho Chang."

"How do you know that?" Ginny asked.

"I asked her to go." Harry said listlessly, "she told me she was already going with Diggory." Good, it's happened, Harry's asked a girl, and I can move on, Ginny thought. Harry doesn't want to go with me, he wants to go with Cho. There was still the fact that Cho turned him down hovering around in the back of Ginny's mind. As Ginny was fighting with herself over something she could never have, Harry and Ron turned towards Hermione, who had just climbed through the portrait hole. The queen of bushy hair seemed to be glowing inside.

"Why weren't you two at dinner?' Hermione questioned. Ron and Harry immediately lost interest in whatever had made Hermione so happy and broke eye contact with her, both looking miserable. Ron because he'd destroyed his social image, and that actually meant something to him, and Harry because the girl he liked turned him down. Ginny saw that neither were going to reply and supplied the answer. "They've both just turned down by the girl they asked to the ball."

Ron's face instantly soured up and Harry looked embarrassed. Hermione got a superior look on her face before addressing Ron. "Eloise Midgen starting to look pretty now isn't she? I'm sure you'll find someone somewhere that'll have you. Though you probably won't if their nose has to be dead center." Ron seemed to miss half of what she said and was looking at Hermione like she was his savior.

"Hermione, you're a girl…"

"Oh well spotted. What are you going to notice next, that Harry's a boy?" She said sarcastically.

Ron shook his head like he was shaking off flies, "Well you... you can come with one of us!"

"No I can't," hermione spat, "I'm already going with someone, and if you really wanted someone to go with, you shouldn't have waited so long."

Ron grinned and held his hands up in surrender, "Okay we know you're a girl," he said. "Will you come now?"

Hermione threw her hair out of her face, "I told you! I'm going with someone, you shouldn't have waited so long." She said before storming up the stairway to the girls dormitories.

Ron, who seemed to have completely forgotten the Fleur incident, leaned back on the sofa and crossed his arms. "She's lying." He said confidently. Ginny was already shaking her head no, that she wasn't lying. "If she isn't, then who is it?"

"I don't know, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you. It's her business."

"Okay, okay, this is getting stupid," Ron said looking incredibly put out, "Ginny, _you_ can go with Harry and I'll just, find someone." Ginny froze at that. She wanted to have some reason to not be able to go with him, but at the same time was delighted she could say yes. The real question was, would he ask her. Ginny's heart was beating a mile a minute and she could swear Harry knew exactly what she was thinking. Harry was looking extremely pressured and Hermione had told her that he hated having the pressure on him, not to mention his hate of being the center of attention. She really didn't want to say this but… "It's fine, I've got some friends and we're hanging out because all of us are under fourth year."That was a lie but at least she gave him a way out. Harry looked relieved and his eyes said 'thank you' before he quickly headed for his dormitory. Ron seemed to have descended into his own little world right after he finished talking and completely missed Harry's departure.

"What are you going to do then Ron? After all, if you get turned down by the most out of your league girl in the school, obviously you have no chance with any." Ginny said sardonically.

Ron started at the voice and then his face fell again, almost as if he'd forgotten his situation in those couple seconds. "I may not even bother to go at all, I've never really liked dances anyway," He said sounding depressed. "I think I'll just go to bed." He made his way up to the dormitories as well, a couple seconds behind his friend. Ginny was amused by her brother, he was such a dramatic boy and takes everything to heart. Then she remembered her situation and all amusement evaporated. With a dejected sigh she headed up to the girl's dormitory, seeing no reason to stay up any longer with how this night went.

As Ginny passed the fourth year room she saw Hermione, laying on her bed staring at the ceiling. Hermione looked miserable, but why would that be? She was just asked to the ball. Ginny tapped the door as she walked in, letting the other know she was there.

"Oh, hey Ginny." If there was one word to describe her friend, it was despondent. What little make up she put on was smeared, and her hair was disheveled. Ginny was surprised there weren't tear tracks in Hermione's make up with how disappointed she looked.

"Hey Hermione, how are you doing?" Ginny asked, sitting on her friends bed.

"I should be over the moon. Viktor Krum, from what I hear from you guys he's incredible at Quidditch, asked me to the Yule Ball. And I was excited when I walked into the common room, but Ron always manages to ruin my day, this one's no exception.

Viktor Krum had asked her? Oh wow that really changes things. Hermione wasn't just asked by a guy, she was asked by the most famous guy of their time, other than the Boy Who Lived. "Was it that he faked not noticing until now that you're a girl?"

"He faked that? I doubt it, your brother's incredibly oblivious." Hermione said disbelievingly while shaking her head.

Ginny thought about the situation for a moment, and how Ron was acting, and came up with only one conclusion. "He wanted to ask you to the ball himself, from the start."

"What?"

Ginny got a small smile on her face realizing Ron had a crush on Hermione, though he likely wouldn't admit to that to anyone, including himself. "He wanted to ask you to the ball from the start, he, being Ron, just wanted to act like asking you was no big deal. You know how much he cares about his image."

Hermione was doubtful, "Why wouldn't he just ask me? How would making it a big deal affect his image in a bad way? And why does he even care that much about what others think of him?"

"Well I can't answer the first two, mens minds work in strange ways. But he cares because he has five older brothers to live up to. Bill was Head Boy, Charlie was Quidditch Captain, Percy was Prefect and Head Boy, Fred and George screw around a lot and everyone thinks they're funny. He wants to make himself known, in his own way. That and there are certain things, that if he does, he'll never live down."

"When did you get so smart?" When Ginny just shrugged, Hermione asked what she'd been wondering since she came up here. "What happened after I left the commons?"

Ginny immediately started blushing and looked away from the other girl. Hermione grinned and jumped at the possibility, "Did Harry ask you to the ball?"

The younger girl's face fell, "No, Ron said Harry could just take me and he'd figure something out. Harry had the whole 'deer in headlights' look on his face so I gave him an out. Told him and Ron I was hanging with some friends that night."

Hermione looked scandalized, "Ginny why would you do that? By how you were blushing I can tell you really wanted him to ask you."

Ginny shook her head, "I did, but I didn't want him to feel pressured to. You know much better than me how Harry hates being the center of attention. Anyways, it'd be really awkward if he asked while Ron was just sitting there, not that Ron was paying any attention."

"I'll tell Harry that you have nothing with friends. Since he'd be the gentleman and not ask you because of your 'planned evening'. He'll very likely ask you at some point once he realizes you're not busy."Hermione said confidently. Then she thought about all of what Ginny had said, "Wait, you said Ron wasn't paying attention? With you and Harry involved? That's unlike him."

"He was startled when I told him I was going to bed, and before that he'd had this forlorn look on his face."

Hermione broke eye contact and started fiddling with her shirt, the smallest blush heating her face. "Yeah you're right, something must have been distracting him."

The blush proved the red head's suspicion that Hermione returned Ron's feelings, the fact was they were both blind to how the other felt. Ginny just smiled to herself, said goodnight, and went up to bed, desperately hoping she wouldn't dream of Harry. The many times she did, she woke up feeling less rested than when she'd gone to bed. On the other hand, from what Hermione said, there was still a chance Harry would ask her. Ginny knew she wouldn't get to sleep for a long time, too hopeful Harry would ask her the next day.

oo0oo

Harry sent Ginny a grateful look and made his escape. He went up to his room, and as he was changing into his nightclothes, Ron came up. His friend looked miserable, "What's up Ron?" Ron shook head and they both got ready for bed before he responded. "This whole ball thing is stupid. I don't think I'm even going to go." Ron said, staring at the ceiling.

"You're just lucky you have a choice. I know if I did I'd be staying as far away from the Great Hall as I could. And are you okay with it then if I ask Ginny?" Ginny wasn't the girl that Harry really wanted to go with, that was Cho, but he needed a partner and the youngest Weasley really was a great girl, even if she always turned red when Harry looked at her. He hoped that wouldn't happen at the ball, it'd be embarrassing for both of them.

"What? Oh yeah, I mean you're like an older brother to her."

"Not from her perspective, but yes that's what I think of her." Harry answered, thinking that even if he'd been interested in her, she was off limits.

Ron snorted, "She'll get over her crush on you eventually, when she realizes you're not the person she's imagining."

Harry turned onto his back and thought about that for a second. Against his better judgement he asked, "Who does she think I am?"

Harry heard Ron roll his eyes, "She thinks you're perfect," and he flushed. He figured the same as Ron when he thought about it. After the ball, if she says yes at least, she'll see all my flaws and calm down about me. I'll actually be able to have a conversation with her, without her blushing.

Harry turned over onto his other side, and fell asleep thinking the ball was a lot more trouble than it was worth.

oo0oo

A/N: My first Harry Potter fanfic, I hope I do it justice. Please leave a review!

Geheim


	2. Anticipation

A/N: Thanks to those who followed, and especially those who reviewed. Enjoy!

Disclaimer- Harry Potter is J.K. Rowling's. I own none of it.

oo0oo

**Anticipation**

A couple nights later, it was now Tuesday night (well technically Wednesday morning), and Harry couldn't sleep. He hadn't been sleeping well since Professor McGonagall added a fourth task to the Triwizard Tournament. The fourth year completely understood the tradition of having champions dance at the start of the ball, but wasn't he too young? And he wasn't even supposed to be a champion, in the first place he wasn't old enough. There's a big difference between fourteen and seventeen. In the second place, Hogwarts already had a champion. Each school is only intended to have one champion, and Hogwarts already had Cedric. And in Harry's opinion, and just about every other house's, Cedric made a much better champion. He was handsome, and smart, and got the girls he wanted. What was Harry? A bumbling fourth year that survived the killing curse... so what. And lastly, and most importantly in Harry's opinion, he hadn't even entered his name into the bloody goblet. But no one seemed to believe him when he said that, Harry just didn't get it.

The Boy Who Lived shook his head dejectedly and leaned forward to stir the coals. The fire seemed to get low much faster at night, when no one was up, than during the day. Having to constantly tend to the fire didn't stop him from loving Hogwarts at night, or the Gryffindor common room; treating the fire was in its own way, a calming activity. Harry remembered all the times sneaking into the Restricted Section at night, and the thrill that comes with going against the rules. Or when he and Ron had taken a leaf out of Fred and George's book and hired Peeves to raise hell. And forget the rest of the castle, the common room was such a nice place when everyone is asleep. The sound of the wind outside rattling the windows, and the fire crackling. The smell of the pine tree sap filled Harry's nostrils as he breathed in deeply. Harry closed his eyes and leaned back, hoping to actually get some sleep.

"Harry!" A voice loudly whispered.

Harry's eyes shot open and he jumped to his feet. That voice sounded remarkably like... "Sirius! What are you doing?" His godfather was once again in the fire, with just his head sticking out of it. When he thought about it, that must look really awkward from the other side of the Floo Network; a person, just kneeling with their head stuck in the fire.

Sirius had the same rugged handsome face that his godson always wished he could pull off. Long black hair haloed a slightly gaunt face. At least it was fuller than the last time Sirius visited. "I read in the Daily Prophet that Hogwarts is having a ball this year, is that right?" At Harry's apprehensive nod he continued, "And I also read that the champions need to dance with a partner in front of the school?" Sirius raised an eyebrow, causing Harry to flush and shuffle his feet.

"Yeah, they expect us to all have a partner, and we have to do a dance before all the other couples can join in."

Sirius grinned like a maniac. "And do you have a special girl to go with yet?" Noticing his godson's face dropped, his grin disappeared "What's the problem? You're a champion of the school. Who would say no?" Harry mumbled something about 'other champion' and looked out the window.

Sirius asked what the problem was and Harry answered, "Well Cedric Diggory is the other champion and he's a lot more popular. He's older, he's handsome, he's a great guy, and he beat me to the girl I wanted to ask to the ball."

His godfather was surprised by that, "Well she must be one helluva girl to catch the eye of both Hogwart's champions. What's her name?"

"Cho Chang, I don't get why I'm so interested in her either. Yeah she's nice and all, and pretty as they get, but there are a lot of girls that fit that bill." Harry looked really aggrieved with this. By now he was walking back and forth, talking with his hands, and constantly running a hand through his hair.

"Harry," Sirius started, not believing he was having the conversation with James's son. "I think you're going through something every guy goes through. Puberty. And your brain just finds this girl to be a great recipient of your feelings. Get close to another girl and you'll likely feel this way about that girl." Harry then watched concerned as Sirius's head went left and right quickly. "Damn! I've got to go. I'll write you soon Harry. Have fun at the ball." And just like that, his godfather's head disappeared.

Harry sat back down and thought about what Sirius said. Could his stupid desire for Cho just be puberty having its way with him? He hoped so, and he'd need to ask Ginny to go to the dance tomorrow, couldn't deal with more sleepless nights. He laid down on the couch nearest to the fire, as the crackling and popping were comforting to hear, and descended into a dreamless sleep.

oo0oo

"Harry. Harry. Wake up, you need to go down and eat breakfast if you want to make it to transfiguration." Hermione said, shaking her friend. Harry jerked awake and looked around wildly, trying to get his bearings. "Did you sleep here all night?" Hermione asked.

"What? Yeah, I came down early morning and listened to the fire," Harry responded. "I guess I must have dozed off."

"And we didn't do anything to him!"

"Though I must admit, it was rather tempting."

Hermione scoffed at the Weasley twins before turning back to Harry.

"Well it's eight fifteen and we need to be in McGonagall's room at nine. Get up and we'll hurry to the great hall to get some breakfast."

Harry looked like a mess. His glasses were askew on his face, not that that didn't just require straightening them. His hair was sticking up on the side he'd laid on, his robes were crumpled and wrinkled, and overall he looked like a wreck. Hermione thought to herself that Ginny would probably still find him attractive, and chuckled.

The Boy Who Lived stumbled off towards the boy's dormitories when his friend came charging after him. "You don't have time to clean yourself up, if you shower, we'll be late. And there's no way I'm about to be late for one of McGonagall's classes."

Harry sighed and turned around, making his way to the portrait hole and climbing out. Watching her friend, that's something Hermione had always liked about Harry more than Ron. He didn't care what others thought of him, as long as he could do what needed to be done.

oo0oo

Harry and Hermione made it down to breakfast and were, as usual, assaulted by the great smells of so many different foods. There were eggs, and pancakes, and waffles, but most importantly, bacon. Harry, being your typical guy, sat down immediately by Ron and loaded his plate. Hermione thought about joining them, but she knew that if she did she'd have to deal the constant sound of pigs, as they shoveled in their food. Instead she looked for Ginny, who was sitting a couple tables down.

Going over and sitting by her she started, "Ginny, I'm sorry, I haven't had the chance yet." Ginny just smiled at her, appreciative that Hermione was actually apologizing, since she never really expected the older girl to talk to Harry for her. Hermione hadn't finished yet though, "He's always with Ron, and I really don't want to bring it up in front of your brother. Even though he suggested it, he's still going to be super overprotective."

Ginny got an irritated look on her face. "Michael Corner's been wanting to hang out, and before this ball came up I was considering saying yes, just to piss Ron, Fred, and George off. Well, mostly Ron, the twins understand that I need to live my own life, make my own decisions."

Hermione doubted that would be a smart idea, and did it very strongly. Sitting down across from the youngest Weasley, she leaned forward so the conversation would remain more private. "Oh please don't do that, Ron would become unbearable to be around, not that he's much better now. It wouldn't help your situation though; you still like Harry right?"

Ginny was irritated with herself, the fact that she couldn't get over a boy she never had a chance with was ridiculous. "I'm trying to stop, I know it's stupid. I don't know what it is that draws me to him."

The younger girl felt Hermione watching her and felt like she had to explain herself. "He's just so nice to me, I've made a fool of myself dozens of times in front of him, because of him, and he never makes fun of me like my brothers. And then there was the whole Chamber of Secrets incident. I really wish it wasn't him that rescued me from Riddle."

"Why?"

Ginny threw her hair out of her face and rubbed her eyes. "Because it just improved my opinion of him, which is exactly what I don't need. And I put him in danger, which I really feel bad about. I can't believe I was that stupid."

Hermione studied her friend, who really looked pathetic. Ginny continued, "And then you and Ron put me by him at the World Cup; why couldn't you or Ron have taken my spot? I'd have willingly sat on the outside."

The fourth year figured it was time to put a stop to this, and hopefully end Ginny's fascination with Harry. She put a hand out of the younger girls arm, "Ginny, Harry doesn't blame you for the Chamber of Secrets. If anything, I think he feels responsible and that's been eating at him. And with the World Cup thing, that wasn't intentional, it just kind of happened."

"Wait, go back to the part where you said he feels responsible, why would he. It was my bloody fault."

Hermione was very surprised to hear language like that coming from Ginny's mouth, the younger girl was even more lost then she thought. "He's the one who kept you in Flourish and Blotts for so long. With Lockhart and his campaign to land on the front page, Harry was the reason the visit was much longer than he would have liked. That's when Lucius put the diary in your cauldron."

Ginny looked indignant and, knowing that she was going to protest, Hermione continued before the other could get anything out. "I know it's not his fault, he has this stupid habit of putting everything on his shoulders, especially when it's not his fault. If you want a piece of advice with him, not that I know anything about guys,you should ignore your blushing. Just try and act as normally as possible and don't let it tongue tie you. He'll ignore it if you do."

Their conversation was interrupted as Professor Dumbledore stood up and called for attention. "There is a meeting for the champions in the back room. If the four of you could join me at your soonest convenience, the rest of you, off to class!" He said the last part with a genial smile and stepped away from the table the staff sit at.

Harry looked around, halfway through his fourth piece of toast when he saw Cedric, Fleur, and Krum get up and make their ways behind the tables. "Wish me luck." He muttered to Ron before going there himself.

When Harry entered McGonagall, who was also back there, started. "Here is what'll happen, " and then she went on and explained how the ball would go. The champions would enter and walk to the middle of the great hall, they'd dance with their partners, and then after the opening song, other students and staff would be allowed to join the champions on the floor. Harry was dreading this, and would be even if Cho had said yes. He didn't know how to dance, and certainly didn't know how to ballroom dance, and yet he got to be the center of attention for the first song. Harry could easily imagine him tripping over his feet and making a fool of himself, or worse, not finding a girl to go with. They were dismissed from the back room, but McGonagall asked for him to stay behind.

"Yes Professor?"

"If you don't know how to dance, which I don't expect you to," she paused and raised an eyebrow. Harry shook his head, embarrassed at being the only one who didn't. "Professor Sprout can teach you, go to the entrance hall tonight at seven. She'll be waiting."  
Harry, though he didn't like the idea of learning to dance, knew he needed this, "Thank you Professor, I'll be there." She nodded and whisked past him, leaving Harry to think about what they were forcing him into. He'd rather face a dozen horntails than go to the ball and have everyone watch him dance.

oo0oo

Ginny left transfiguration in a hurry. Determined to make the Gryffindor house team next year and, to achieve that, she needed practice. A week before the World Cup, Fred and George had found her flying Fred's broom in the wee hours of the morning. They were impressed with her control and George took his own broom up, while his twin watched from the ground. Her older brother asked Ginny if she was wanting to make it on the house team, when she told him she wanted to be a Chaser, he started teaching her. After that, the twins went out with her, every couple of nights, and showed her the tricks of the trade. They promised to continue it at school, but the Triwizard Tournament threw that idea out of all of their minds, until now. The youngest Weasley had gotten George's promise that he would fly with her tonight, and help her practice.

She was hurrying downstairs when she literally ran into Harry, and watched in horror as all his materials fell out of his bag. "Oh! Sorry Harry." Ginny said, feeling her face heat before ruthlessly squelching the reaction.

"No no it's fine, I was actually looking for you." They finished getting his school stuff back in his bag and he put it over one shoulder. Ginny froze when she heard that he was looking for her, and without fail, her heart again started beating a mile a minute. Could he, maybe be asking… no he couldn't. "Do you-er… do you want to go to the ball with me?" Ginny felt her face really heating up, she must look like a tomato, a tomato with red hair. "Yes!" She started blushing on the spot, then began fretting about seeming too excited about this. He seemed relieved though, with her excitement, so maybe it wasn't such a bad thing.

"Good, the champions and their-erm… partners have to be in the entrance hall at seven forty five, see you there?"

"Sure." Ginny said with a huge grin on her face. Harry smiled too, though she thought it was mostly relief, before walking away. She hitched her bag more securely on her shoulder, looked around to make sure no one was watching, and then did a little dance of excitement. Today was a great day!

oo0oo

"Merlin Ginny, you're happy about something," George said. Ginny immediately became worried, figuring if her brothers found out about it, it'd be a problem, even though Ron was the one to suggest it.

"It's just a nice day, and I get to fly again." Ginny said with a radiant smile. George looked guilty and shuffled his feet. Because of that, his younger sister continued, "No, don't feel bad, the tournament threw everyone for a loop, I forgot about it and I can't expect you to remember if I forget." She then grabbed Fred's broom and went out onto the pitch. Technically, she was supposed to be using a school broom but George always let her use his brother's, little did he know, his brother did the same thing reversed. The weather hadn't changed at all, but it seemed to be such a nice winter day compared to this morning. The sun was shining forcing them to squint their eyes; there was a nice breeze, but not so strong it made flying difficult.

George got the quidditch chest out with Ginnys help and popped it open. Grabbing the quaffle, they both mounted and took to the air, the girl making sure to remember everything she'd learned about take off.

"Ok since it's been a while since you've flown, well since either of us have flown, let's just do some passing." Ginny nodded in response and they started doing figure eights down the field, passing the ball and forth.

After the third or fourth reception, George shook his hands, trying to get the feeling back into them. "Why are you throwing so hard Ginny? You're not going for a goal yet." He called to her, irritated.

She grinned back cheekily, "Then play some Keeper, I'll go for goals and you don't need to complain about your delicate hands." George rolled his eyes, but he knew his sister would get to this point eventually. "You'll have to get Ron out here with you, he actually enjoys being keeper."

Ginny caught the ball and made her first shot slide past George into the corner hoop. "Would I be aloud to use your broom then? I like it more than Fred's," she asked innocently.

George rapidly shook his head has Ginny started back and forth, looking for an opening. "No, you can't use my broom," George said before a horrible thought hit him. "Wait, whose broom did you use when flying with Fred?"

The youngest Weasley gave one of her pure smiles as an answer, as she put the quaffle through for the second time. George had grown up with Ginny though, so he knew very well how she had always avoided blame by smiling at their parents and acting naive. She was anything but naive he thought though as she put through her third in a row, seeming to not care that there was someone trying to stop her from scoring.

"What happened today that's put you in such a good mood? Since your play is certainly reflecting it, I can't stop a single shot. And don't think the conversation about brooms is done." She brazenly put through her fourth in a row before shrugging, which was quite a feat on a broom.

'What could put Ginny in an extremely good mood like this?' He thought. Then it hit him, 'A boy's asked her to the ball.' Though that didn't explain her unwillingness to talk about it. 'Oh! That could be…'

"Did Harry ask you to the ball?" George questioned, confident he had the right answer. His suspicions were proven right when she blushed crimson. Good for her, though if Harry tried to have a relationship with his little sister, they'd be having words. "Well then your boyfriend should be out here playing with you. He, though I hate to admit it, is a better flier than me, and would probably be a challenge for you to score on."

George underestimated his sister though, something no one ever did twice. "Would you stop it please. I'm tired of you three never letting it rest, can't I just have one night that won't be joked about, or be the butt of all the jokes?" With that theatrical, but deserved, speech Ginny made her way to the ground and stomped back up to the castle angrily. George hovered in the air for a minute, not believing her reaction, before shrugging to himself and putting the quidditch gear away. He wondered if he'd need to have a conversation with Harry before the dance, just to be safe.

oo0oo

Ginny made her way into the great hall for dinner. She'd calmed down after yelling at George and hoped he'd give her just one night without constant ribbing. 'Yeah, and some hope that pigs will fly, neither are ever going to happen.' She looked for a spot on the table to sit when she heard, "Ginny."

She turned and there was Hermione, "You eating dinner?" The older girl asked.

"Yeah, I just got in from practicing flying with George, he noticed my different attitude when we were out flying today and guessed that Harry asked me to the ball. My heritage betrayed me and I turned red, very red."

Hermione smiled and gestured for Ginny to come sit with her, then made her way over to Ron and Harry. Ginny noticed the Gryffindor table was quite crowded, because it was the middle of dinner, and realized half a second too late that there were only two spots open, and Hermione was heading towards Ron. The youngest Weasley lunged forward to grab for her friends arm but wasn't quick enough, the older girl had already sat down, that left the only the spot by Harry open. Normally Ginny would have bolted, and found somewhere else to sit. But she remembered the fact that she'd need to dance with him in less than a week, in front of the whole school. The redhead grit her teeth, and took her seat, giving Hermione the death glare.

The boys had finished up their dinners when the girls got there, and both sat back looking very content. Ron looked surprised, and pleased that Hermione had decided to sit by him but little did he know, the real reason was for Ginny to have to talk to Harry. The Seeker sat back on the bench, looked over at Ginny, and smiled. She felt herself start to blush and leaned forward to get food, to distract herself from who she was sitting by.

"You've been flying." Harry said, it wasn't a question. "And very energetically by the looks of it." He swept a critical eye (or at least that's what Ginny thought) over her appearance and took in the windswept hair, slightly squinted eyes, and disheveled robes. Harry had to admit to himself, 'No one can pull off windswept hair like a redhead and Ginny is prettier to most-' He stopped that train of thought right there. 'Please tell me I'm not developing an interest in Ron's sister, she's off limits,' he thought to himself.

Ginny smiled a little shyly, "George was flying with me, to get me more experience on a broom so I can try out for the team next year."

Hermione hoped Harry would continue the conversation, and ask the obvious question. "What are you hoping for?" He asked.

"I was thinking chaser, next year Angelina and Alicia will be gone, and they'll need people to fill their spots."

Hermione should have known Harry would come through, he was consistent and that's one of the things she liked most about him.

"I'll come out and play Keeper for you if neither of the twins want to, or Ron likes keeping," the second youngest Weasley said sure to that, and Ginny realized just what Harry was offering.

"Well thanks," Ginny said, smiling more confidently.

Harry had just offered to help her with quidditch. He'd asked her to the ball, she got to play her favorite sport with her brother, the boy she liked offered to play quidditch with her, and she'd barely blushed in an extended period of time in his presence; this day couldn't get much better. Now Ginny couldn't wait for the dance.

oo0oo

A/N: Hmmm is Harry going to play quidditch with Ginny? That'd be almost like a… date! Please read and review :D

Geheim


	3. Contentment

A/N: Thank you so much to those who've read, and especially the few who reviewed; it really means a lot to me. Enjoy.

Disclaimer- Everything Harry is J. K. Rowling's

oo0oo

**Contentment**

Everything on Harry hurt. His feet were sore because of how much elaborate stepping he'd done the past few days. His arms were tired because he'd been learning to dance from Professor Sprout, and she taught by example. She wasn't overweight, but he was only fourteen. His brain hurt because of how much he had to remember. It was ridiculous how many different actions could be taken in one, three minute dance. When Harry had complained to Hermione that Ginny didn't have to learn, she told him all a girl does is follow the guy, he's the leader. Saying the password, mandrake, the the Fat Lady, Harry made his way into the common room.

"Uuughh." Harry complained, collapsing onto the couch. Ron was sitting across the chess table from him and smiled sympathetically.

"Professor Sprout just finish with you?"

Harry groaned again and nodded, before fully sinking back into the bliss the Gryffindor couch provided.

"Who knew it'd take three days to teach you one, three minute dance." Ron continued congenially.

Harry interrupted his friend before he could continue. "It's not the time, it's that all of me hurts so damn much. My feet hurt, arms are sore, and head feels like it's going to explode with how much I've tried to memorize."

Ron grinned, "Ok the brain and feet I understand, but why your arms?"

Harry shook his head disgustedly, "With how much we lift and spin the girl, that should be all the dance is. Shouldn't even bother having them on the ground."

"Hopefully for you your dance partners light then. Have you gotten someone to go with?"

Harry knew it'd probably get ugly when Ron found out he'd actually asked Ginny. He figured it might as well be now, rather than when he saw them at the dance, the over protective brother would probably cause a scene. "I asked Ginny the other day, figured your idea was smart so I took it. I'm going with her as a friend, just for the dance that everyone is watching us in, have you found anyone yet?" When Harry said it was just at a friend, Ron's face cleared up. "No, I haven't, but whatever; I guess I'm not going to the ball."

oo0oo

Ginny was motionless, her shoulder was touching Harry's AND there was room for him to move over if he wanted to. He didn't and the redhead could only see two reasons for that, she hoped it was that he didn't want to, it was likely because he didn't notice. She looked across the chess table to Hermione and thought about how much the girl had done for her. This was the second time she'd sat by Ron, so Ginny could sit by Harry. She'd pushed Ginny to act on impulses, with both good and bad results. And she'd most importantly, had that conversation with him. From what Hermione said, it went something like this,

"Hey Harry, you know Ginny isn't busy the night of the Yule Ball, right?"

Harry turned towards her, confused. "What? No she is, she's having a night with her friends."

Hermione raised her eyes to the heavens and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'boys' before turning back to Harry with a small smile. "She just said that because she knew you were uncomfortable, she'd really like to go with you."

Harry still looked doubtful so Hermione continued, "Don't you think Ginny's talked to me about it? Trust me, she's hoping you'll ask her."

Harry shuffled his feet, he looked like he believed Hermione, but nervous. Not wanting him to get cold feet she said, "Harry, she'll say yes. Trust me ok?"

And now they were here, with Ginny smiling to herself at the situation she was in. She was going to the Yule Ball with Harry, the boy she'd always had a crush on.

"Wanna play chess?" Her brother asked, looking at Harry.

"Nah. I can't concentrate on the game, I've got to remember all the stuff Sprout's taught me." Harry responded with a grimace.

Ginny decided to take a leap of faith and actually participate in the conversation. "What's Sprout been teaching you?" Harry turned red, which made Ginny's face start to heat. "How to dance, I never realized it was that complex." Ginny's face lit on fire when she figured out she was the reason Harry was blushing.

Hermione, seeing the danger signs of the Weasley girl losing all confidence with Harry, jumped into the conversation, "Just another reason I'm glad I'm a girl. The guys lead, we just follow."

Ron grinned at Harry, "Sucks to be you, I don't need to actually dance," he said leaning back and interlocking his fingers behind his head contemptuously.

"You don't even have a partner to dance with. That's what happens when you're picky." Hermione accused.

Ron put on an 'I don't care' face and snapped back, "Now I don't need to wear my ridiculous dress robes, win-win."

The two of them started bickering and Ginny, who wasn't bothering to listen to them, relished her physical connection with Harry before her eyes began to droop, courtesy of the crackling fire. The youngest Weasley ferociously fought with herself, not wanting to nod off, especially when she was leaning against Harry and her head would fall onto his shoulder. She didn't want to jerk though either and cause him to move away, it was quite a dilemma for the thirteen year old.

Harry started talking and she startled fully awake, "Kind of sad that this is relaxing isn't it?" He said quietly, grinning at her. Oh she loved his smile, brightened her day and she wanted to be the reason for it, she was so damn nervous around him. Realizing he was waiting for a response, she quickly responded, "Yeah, the lovebirds will notice that they have feelings for each other eventually."

Ginny, mortified that she'd let out Hermione's secret, was relieved when Harry didn't believe her and just laughed, "They fight way too much to like each other."

Ginny didn't respond, too nervous to continue on the subject and reveal anything else. Once again they fell silent, only this one was more comfortable than the last. Ginny couldn't stop herself from nodding off, the last couple nights she'd barely slept, and her head fell on Harry's shoulder.

oo0oo

Everything stopped in a heartbeat, Ron's and Hermione's eyes snapped to him, and Harry tensed and froze; inside, Hermione was crowing with success. Ginny had gotten comfortable enough with her fascination to use him as a pillow, even if it was unintentional, it was very cute. Her ankles were crossed along with her hands folded on her lap. Hair veiling her face, causing Hermione to wonder if Ginny was actually awake and intentionally doing this, before the older girl realized Ginny would never have the guts.

Harry wasn't daring to move, he didn't want to wake her the youngest Weasley up and didn't mind having her on his shoulder, he actually liked it. Hermione was grinning like a maniac but Harry only had eyes from Ron. His friend looked like he was having to fight to stop himself from yelling and the Boy Who Lived appreciated it. He'd imagined this so many times, not with Ginny, but with Cho.

Hermione drew their friend back into a conversation, and it took a lot, but Ron was distracted from his sister.

Harry started to relax, hearing his two friends voices, not fighting for once was making him tired. Largely because he'd barely slept the past few nights, filled with anxiety about the ball. There was something calming about Ginny being on his shoulder, and he certainly wasn't going to disagree with it. Propping his arm up against the armrest, he rested his head on it, and drifted off as well.

oo0oo

When Hermione saw Harry slip into a doze as well, she put a hand on Ron's arm as he moved to wake Harry up to head up to the dorms and sleep. "Let him sleep, they're not hurting anything and I'll wake them up when I go to bed, I'll read down here for a while."

Ron answered explosively, but quietly (which Hermione was thankful for). "That's my sister! And my best mate! I don't care if I told him to ask her to the ball, I didn't actually expect him to."

"I've talked to Harry about it," She lied, "He is just taking Ginny as a friend, and because he needs a partner for the opening dance. And anyways, you can keep an eye on them, so if you see something you don't like, you can stop them."

Ron looked mollified at the first part, but to the second, "Remember? I told you I'm not going."

Hermione did a double take. "I remember you telling me you weren't going to dance, but aren't you going anyways? A lot of younger kids would kill for this opportunity."

"I'm not a younger kid, and all I'd do is sit and watch you all dance anyways. There's no point in me going, I might as well just stay here, and work on homework." Ron said the last part to surprise Hermione and shut her up. Seeing the skepticism on her face he stalked off, not looking forward to Christmas night.

The girl smiled before looking at Harry and Ginny. She had lifted her feet onto the couch beside her in her sleep, surprisingly not waking Harry. Hermione walked over to them, and lightly touched Ginny on the shoulder, seeing if she'd wake up. When she didn't, the older girl grabbed one of the pillows and put it on Harry's lap. Slowly moving Ginny from shoulder to lap was touch-and-go with them waking, but thankfully they didn't.

She looked up and saw the twins watching her; marching over, she threatened them, "Harry's not awake, and nor is Ginny. Leave them alone unless you want me to make your pranks look like child's play." Hermione looked them each in the eyes, so they could see she was serious, and then headed up to the girl's dormitories, taking one last look at the sleeping not-couple-but-acting-like-it.

oo0oo

Harry woke up slowly, and saw the dying fire. Used to tending to it, he went to get up and grab the poker when he realized someone was on his lap, Ginny. Looking around, he saw that the common room was empty, and with how low the fire was, it was late. Harry sat for a minute, unsure of what to do when she repositioned herself in her sleep, hand coming up grabbing his leg just above the knee, as if it were a pillow. The Boy Who Lived reasoned he had Hermione to thank/blame for this, but Ginny was off limits; that didn't mean he couldn't appreciate her from afar. Her long red hair was like silk, and her face was as innocent as they get, she had a small smile on her face, as if she was having a good dream... Not able to stop himself, he reached down and touched her hair; it was as soft as imagined. Harry brushed it back from her face and thought about what any of the Weasley boys would do if they found their sister with him like this. They'd kill him, at the least. The exhaustion started affecting him again, and he leaned back on the couch, hand absentmindedly playing with her hair.

oo0oo

Ginny awoke, feeling better than she had in a while (even though she'd only slept for a few hours). The girl was content, laying there, head on Harry's la… HARRY'S LAP!? It took all of her self control not to jerk into a sitting position. She stared at him long and hard and he didn't move, didn't wake up, hardly even breathed. His head was resting on his hand, glasses slightly askew, his right hand was tangled deep in her hair, his left down by her side, barely a hairs breadth from touching her. Gnny just lay there, not daring to move, not wanting to wake him up, enjoying the physical contact, even if he was asleep. She couldn't figure out how she'd ended up there, her last memory was of fighting with herself not to fall asleep.

The hour bell chimed once, twice, thrice before falling silent. She knew it was now Christmas Day, the day of the Yule Ball, and she needed sleep. She only wanted to lay here, wanted this moment to last forever, she knew though that she needed to get to bed. Reaching out an arm, she softly touched Harry, he woke with a start.

Ginny smiled very hesitantly, then sat up. "I'm sorry for not letting you get off to bed, I didn't-"

Harry lifted a hand to stop her. "It's fine, I've slept down here every night since I heard about the Yule Ball."

Ginny was confused so Harry continued, "The crackling of the fire calms me I guess, thank you for waking me though."

The other nodded, "Well… good night Harry." Ginny said. Harry responded with the same and Ginny made her way upstairs, getting into bed. She didn't fall asleep for quite a while, her mind filled with the feeling of Harry's hand knitted through her hair. What she'd do to feel that again, to feel him put his hand there while she was awake. The youngest Weasley eventually fell asleep with a smile on her face.

oo0oo

A/N: Thank you for reading! A bit of a short chapter but I wanted all of Yule to be together. Please leave a review, that was the sappiest thing I've written and I want to know what's good and bad about it. Anything's appreciated though.

Geheim


	4. Perfection

A/N: It's time for Yule! Hopefully I did well with this, and thank you to the reviewers. Enjoy :D

Disclaimer- I don't own Harry, J. K. Rowling does.

oo0oo

**Perfection**

"Presents!" Seamus yelled when he woke up just after eight. The sound of his voice woke the rest of the dormitory, except Harry. Ron, Neville, and Dean eagerly joined Seamus with tearing into their presents. Ron saw that Harry was somehow managing to sleep through the chaos and it immediately made him suspicious. He took his Weasley sweater and threw it at his friend to wake him up, Harry startled out of sleep and looked around, finding Ron's glaring face.

"It's Christmas Ron, brighten up." The Boy Who Lived was, as ever, surprised to see that he received presents, and dove right in. After he opened his book from Hermione he noticed that Ron was still staring at him. "What is it?"

"Slept pretty soundly, were you kept up last night?"

Harry understood straightaway. Ron was pissed about what happened, (or what didn't happen, though he didn't know that) with Ginny. "I fell asleep on the sofa, and it doesn't provide the best rest. Ginny woke me up at three, I guess she woke up, and we went to bed." Ron still looked suspicious, and Harry couldn't resist taking advantage of it, "Oh yeah, after we had a goodnight kiss."

Ron blanched, "What!?"

Harry snickered, "I'm only joking Ron. I don't have feelings for your sister and wouldn't take advantage of her like that."

The Boy Who Lived had one of his best Christmases yet; Hermione had given Harry a book called _Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland; _Ron, a bulging bag of Dungbombs; Sirius, a handy penknife with attachments to unlock any lock and undo any knot; and Hagrid, a vas box of sweets including all Harry's favorites: Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Drooble's Best Blowing gum, and Fizzing Whizbees. He passed out sweets to the rest of the dormitory and then moved to his favorite present of each year, the one he'd saved for last, Mrs. Weasley's hand made sweater. This year it had a dragon on it, Harry supposed Charlie had told her about the Horntail, and was as warm as ever.

Most of the Christmas morning was spent in the common room, everyone enjoying their gifts, with one change to the usual. Ginny was hanging out with them. Harry, after the previous night, had to stop himself from looking at her every few seconds. Her hair was mussy from sleep and Harry thought it was cuter than ever, he wanted more than anything to run his hands through it, see if it felt as good as last night. Ron was watching Ginny and him like a hawk though, so the champion was given no chance, though Harry doubted he would have done it even if the opportunity presented itself. She was off limits, and he'd do well to remember that.

When it got to afternoon, Fred, George, Ron, Harry, Ginny, and Hermione all went outside to have a terrific snowball fight. Hermione decided to watch rather than play, and the youngest Weasley joined her.

oo0oo

At five Hermione claimed to need to get ready for the ball. Ginny agreed and Fred, or was it George (it was hard to tell when they were covered in snow gear), took advantage of that and hit his sister in the back with a snowball.

"What? You need three hours to get ready?" Ron called sarcastically, annoyed at the how the whole situation had turned out. Now it was Ron's turn to pay for being distracted and take a snowball, this one from Harry. Without hesitation, Ron dropped back behind his wall and built a snowball, Hermione forgotten.

The snowball fight went on for another couple hours getting to the point that neither Harry, nor the Weasleys could throw a snowball and they ended up using their wands to fight. It took a lot of the satisfaction out of it though, so they marched back inside to dry off and get ready for the ball. Harry, after taking a fifteen minute shower, knew he was going to regret having a snowball fight, he doubted he could lift Ginny more than once during the opening dance. Harry put on his dress robes and went down to the common room, waiting for the girls to come down.

Harry was talking to Dean when the girls came out of their dormitories, and turned to find Ginny. The champion had to pick his jaw up off the floor when he saw Ginny and was very glad Ron wasn't there, her brother wouldn't appreciate his best mate staring at his sister. She looked incredible. Her hair was curled rather than straight, and treated with something that made it seem to glow, she was wearing a sage green chiffon dress, with layers down to the floor. Ginny had actually put makeup on making her look older, and drew her caramel colored eyes out. Harry didn't know it, but he was falling prey to a redhead, the same thing that happened to his father, and his grandfather before that. She made her way through the crowd and over to him, looking very unsure, Harry wanted to tell her how great she looked, but couldn't put it into words, he just stared at her. She started blushing when he didn't say anything, and shoved some hair out of her eyes self consciously.

Harry finally managed to get words out "Wow Ginny, you look… phenomenal."

Ginny jumped from a slow blush, to crimson, and looked away, "Thanks, you look great too."

Harry remembered what Sprout had told him, "Even if you get everything else wrong, make sure you remember to offer your date your arm, it's very gentlemanly." So Harry did just that, resulting in Ginny tipping her head in an embarrassed way. With his date being this close, he found his favorite part about her. Even though he couldn't put a name on it, she smelled amazing, especially her hair. As they left the Gryffindor common room, he guided her so that he could smell her hair, and breathed slowly and deeply all the way to the great hall.

oo0oo

The first part of Ginny's day was as good as she could have imagined. She woke up with a smile on her face remembering what had gone down the previous night, and then spent the whole morning with Harry. She didn't blush, or stutter, once, which was a huge accomplishment for her. After eating lunch, they headed outside for a snowball fight. Hermione, not wanting to make a mess of herself, told the boys she was going to watch. Ginny joined her.

"So how'd last night go?" Hermione questioned her younger friend, playing with her jacket cuff as she did so. Ginny turned a brilliant shade of red before smiling hugely. "It was brilliant Hermione. I fell asleep sitting by him, and woke up with my head on his lap and his hand knitted in my hair."

Hermione chuckled in response, causing Ginny to ask what was funny. "Oh Harry is more perceptive than the average guy, puts most to shame. After you fell asleep on his shoulder, I managed to get Ron to stay quiet. Harry fell asleep not long after. When Ron had gone to bed, I laid you down, put your head on his lap, and left you both like that. I guess Harry woke up at some point and started playing with your hair; the boy likes you, just doesn't know it yet."

Ginny's stomach tried to make it up her throat, and her heart began pounding a fast rhythm in her chest. "No he doesn't Hermione. Why would he? I haven't been able to form a coherent sentence in front of him until this year."

Hermione figured one or two white lies wouldn't go amiss in this, particularly if it led to Ginny gaining confidence around her crush, and Harry realizing the girl was one in a million. "I've talked to him about it. He gets a little uncomfortable when you blush because of him, but finds your stuttering, and I'm using his words, 'extremely endearing'. And anyways, he's a Potter, and every Potter male is destined to fall for a redhead.

Ginny grinned like a fool, for the first time in her life, actually considering that Harry may return her feelings if she played her cards right. She thought back to her first memories of Harry; on Platform Nine ¾'s when he'd asked her mum how to get onto the platform, when Fred and George came off the train grinning from ear to ear and told her mum that was Harry Potter. When, because there was no one else home, she spent an entire year imagining how Harry would really be, and building up this imaginary boy. When she got up one morning before her first year and found Harry in the dining room. That whole summer that he was embarrassed by her fascination, but never teased her like her brothers did. When he rescued her from the Chamber of Secrets at the end of her first year; he was her hero in shining… well not really shining, more like bloody Hogwarts robes. When he'd collapsed on Hogwarts Express her second year, and started yelling about his mum. Even though Rona and Hermione had it taken care of, she'd wanted so badly to comfort him. How there was no contact between them after that until this year, allowing her to build him completely out of proportion in her head, especially after he saved her life. Sitting by him at the World Cup and missing a lot of the action because she was so distracted. And then last night, waking up to his hand in her hair and almost touching her side, her head on his lap; yes, she had a lot to thank Hermione for.

Ginny shivered in pleasure, just remembering the night before. Hermione got the wrong idea and lit a fire in a jar for them as they sat watching the boys play. Well, Hermione watched the boys play, Ginny watched her crush. She knew a lot of his expressions by now, his laughter, his smiling, she'd seen his contentment last night, and his worry in the Chamber. She knew every line on his face and ev-. No. She had to stop this right now; just because Hermione said he may like her, didn't mean she could think about him all the time. She'd start blushing again, all her hard work would be ruined, and the ball would be a total fiasco. Ginny determinedly didn't look at Harry again the rest of the time they were outside.

"I'm going in, have to start getting ready for the ball. You coming?" Hermione said, dusting off her pants. Ginny felt her heart leap with excitement and got up as well. Hermione called to the boys that they were going inside and they went up to the dormitories together before getting into their dresses.

The other third year girls were all looking at Ginny jealously as she left the bathroom with her dress on.

"Who are you going with?" A girl by the name of Kathryn asked. She had a few inches on the youngest Weasley. long blond hair, a face that looked like a chipmunk, and always had a bad attitude.

Ginny lifted her chin, Weasley genes affecting her with her peers, "Harry Potter."

Another girl, by the name of Miranda, scoffed. "No you're not, you're just wishing you were."

The redhead, who knew the truth, shrugged because it didn't really matter. She made her way to the stairs and headed down to the fourth year dormitories. Knocking, Parvati answered, "Hi Ginny. You going to the ball?" The other girl looked her up and down, surprised.

"Yeah, I am, is Hermione here?"

Parvati nodded, and then yelled her classmates name back into the dormitory.

"She'll be out in a second, getting ready. Who are you going with?"

Ginny looked down, while she didn't feel the need to explain herself to her classmates, Parvati was a year older. Hermione had come up though and didn't give the younger girl a chance to answer. "She's going with Harry."

Parvati's eyes widened and muttered something like 'lucky' before leaving the two. "What do you need Ginny?" Then looking at her friend up and down she said, "And my my, you look good. I think Harry will be very impressed."

Ginny smiled and felt her face start to heat, "Do you have makeup I can borrow? I didn't think Harry would ask me, so I didn't bother getting any, and thank you for forcing me to get a dress."

Hermione gestured to the fourth year bathrooms, "Harry will be shocked when I'm done with you. We need to do something with your hair too." The older girl sat Ginny down, and went to work.

oo0oo

At seven she told Ginny what else to do and left, saying she had to meet Krum. The redhead was much slower than her older friend, and finished right before they were all supposed to meet in the common room. Her stomach was rebelling madly, butterflies having a field day, when she got up. She descended the steps with the fourth years, and their numbers kept growing for each grade level. Ginny was in the middle of the group when they entered the common room, and her eyes immediately sought Harry out. She saw him, his eyes wide, and walked over to him, feeling very self conscious when he didn't say anything, just stared. She took the opportunity to look at him, he was wearing green robes, darker than hers, that matched his eyes perfectly. His hair was as disheveled as if he'd just finished playing a quidditch match, exactly the way she liked it.

"Wow Ginny, you look… phenomenal" She blushed crimson, had he really said that?

"Thanks, you look great too." The redhead replied, looking away. He offered her his arm, which she embarrassedly took, and they headed to the great hall. Ginny felt Harry's eyes on her the whole way, and couldn't stop herself from slowly reddening, and obviously for good reasons, because he couldn't take his eyes off her. 'This is amazing' she thought as they walked towards the great hall.

They separated from the other Gryffindors and entered the small side room the other champions were waiting in. Harry jerked in surprise when he saw that Hermione was Krum's partner, before smiling hugely. Fleur was waiting there too, standing by a boy named Roger Davis, who looked like he was on cloud nine. Cedric and Cho weren't there yet, which Ginny was glad about, remembering Cho was the first girl Harry asked.

Ginny was shaking with nerves. Her right hand, thankfully, was steady on Harry's arm, but the rest of her couldn't stay still. She knew she wouldn't calm down until after the first dance, maybe till they separated. She saw the final champion and his partner enter a minute later, and watched Harry to see his reaction. His eyes soured before he turned away, eyes looking for something to rest on before finding… her. Now she looked away, and felt Harry's eyes on her, and not going elsewhere.

"Do you mind?" Harry muttered, embarrassed, hand gesturing to her hair. Ginny's heart jumped through her chest as she shook her head and then her crush's hand was in her hair, sliding softly through it.

'Whatever she added to her hair, it made it softer, not stiffer,' Harry thought as he softly brushed it behind her ear.

The champions and their partners heard Dumbledore's voice in the great hall, the official starting to the ball. "I'd like to welcome the Weird Sisters, your performers for tonight." Whatever else he said was overrode by the wild cheering of the Hogwarts students. Then the music started, and it was time for them to leave. Ginny was clinging to Harry's arm like it was a life preserver, little did she know, he was doing the same. Each champion had their own section of the floor, and Ginny felt hundreds of eyes on her as they made their way over to it. Her heart was thudding in her chest and her stomach seemed like it was trying to escape. The redhead was almost hyperventilating as they were walking to their position. Harry guided her to a stop and looked down into her eyes, causing her to regain composure, and she stared right back, when the music started.

Ginny couldn't believe it. She was dancing with Harry Potter, and her brother wasn't here to ruin it. She felt his hand burning through the dress at her hip, until he moved both to her hips, lifting her up and turning. She saw his mouth moving, counting something, before realizing he was counting to the beat. His eyes weren't dazed (like she expected her's were), they were focusing hard on remembering everything. They spun throughout the room to the beat of the music before the notes started building. The end came at Ginny unexpectedly, as he bent her back and over his arm, face only inches away.

Harry's arms were burning, but they'd finished the dance and now all that was left was supporting her in the lean back. With her face only inches away, he had the almost uncontrollable urge to kiss her, but the champion knew he couldn't. He tightened his jaw with effort and pulled her back up as the music stopped, massive cheering rang through the hall as the rest of the students flooded onto the floor.

Ginny stumbled with how hard she was shaking, resulting in Harry (whose arms were screaming in protest at this point) catching her and steadying her. They made their way over to the nearest table and collapsed in seats. The redhead was euphoric; she couldn't have imagined how great it would be, it never would have lived up to how it really was, now she needed a drink.

Percy came up, holding a water for each of them. He handed them the waters and smiled at Ginny. "Nice dance the two of you, you did Hogwarts proud, especially being years younger than the other couples."

Ginny shivered as her body let out the last of the adrenaline. "Thanks Perce, that was crazy."

Harry nodded vigorously in agreement and they both relaxed, Ginny trying to stop her leg from shaking. A fast song, a slow one, and one that was in between passed before Hermione found them.

"Harry. Ginny. How fun is this? Viktor's gone to get drinks." She said and sat down by them.

Harry responded, "I hate being the center of attention, " he said, Ginny was silent. Before Viktor got back, Hermione wanted to know what was going on. She leaned towards Ginny and said very quietly, "How are things going?"

Ginny smiled at her, and answered in the same tone, "Thank you so much Hermione, for getting Harry to ask me." The older girl smiled at her.

Viktor Krum sat down by Hermione and gave her a Butterbeer, taking a sip of his own Gilly Water as he relaxed. He had black hair and very sharp features, making him look like the stereotypical villain. When he smiled though, his whole face turned into that of a confident, friendly young man. He held out his hand to Ginny, "Viktor Krum."

Ginny smiled at him and shook, "Ginny Weasley."

The world famous seeker reached out for Harry's hand next, "And you're Harry Potter."

Harry grimaced and nodded, shaking as well. "Good game against Ireland, we were all able to watch."

Krum smiled warmly, "Yes, Hermione told me." He turned back to Ginny, "So you're one of the infamous Weasleys. Flaming red hair and a temper to match, so I've heard."

Ginny chuckled and responded, ignoring Harry's snicker, "Yeah you could say that."

The four of them continued talking throughout the next few songs, only stopping when Hermione and Viktor got up at a slow dance and migrated to the dance floor. Harry had seen how they'd all danced at the last one, and it was really just leaning back and forth. He saw Ginny look at the other couples longingly, but not say anything. He'd asked her to the ball, and whether he liked dancing or not, he owed her this for saying yes. Standing up, he offered her his hand, "Dance?"

Ginny glowed, "Of course." Allowing him to take her hand, they went out on the dance floor. She noticed with a sinking heart, that they stopped not far from Cedric and Cho, with Harry facing them. He hadn't looked over at them yet though, so Ginny remained hopeful that it wasn't intentional. His hands were holding her hips softly as they danced, she felt her heart speed up again, their eyes locked together, and Ginny decided to allow herself this night, to dream. So she pretended this dance was something more than it was and lost herself in his eyes.

oo0oo

Harry completely unaware of the fact that Cho was fifteen feet in front of him, lost himself in the dance, the feel of Ginny's hips in his hands, the stare of her gorgeous caramel orbs. He surprised himself by actually enjoying the slow dance and decided to give himself this one night, to dream, to pretend this dance could lead to something more, and lost himself in her eyes. At the end of that song, they left the floor again, for another fast song was starting. Harry, finding that he truly wanted to dance with her (for the slow songs), asked her each time one came on, and each time she said yes without hesitation, and so they danced the night away. The Weird Sisters announced that this'd be the last song for the night, and started playing (what Harry found out later was currently the most popular slow dance song) their final song.

"May I have this dance?" Harry said for the dozenth time.

"Do you even have to ask at this point?" Ginny responded with a brilliant smile on her face. He led her out onto the dance floor and they both imagined, unaware that the other was doing the same thing, what if this could be more? As the songs haunting melody turned hopeful in the bridge, Harry was once again seized by an almost irresistible urge to kiss her, and had leaned his head forward the smallest amount before catching himself. He had to bite his tongue hard to clear. They revolved slowly on the spot, face inches apart, not kissing, yet refusing to lose the chance that it'd happen… somehow.

Harry came to a decision when the music ended. Leaning forward to kiss her on the cheek, he whispered in her ear, "Thank you for tonight, I can't imagine having a better time."

oo0oo

A/N: There's a song, Careless Whisper (the Seether cover) that I think fits this chapter incredibly well. Check it out if you want.

I'm German and as stoic as they come, please please please give me feedback on this chapter. It was hard as heck to write and I have no idea how well I did end up doing. Please tell me how I did, whether its good or bad, I just want feedback.

Whoever asked in a review, I needed my sister's help with Ginny's dress, hope it was good enough.

A thanks to scrappy8 for reviewing. Fanfiction didn't let me PM him.

Thank you for all the feedback I've gotten, and I have no intentions of dropping the story just because the fun's over. I guess I'll just have to make more fun. :D

Geheim


	5. Doubt

A/N: Wasn't sure where to go after the ball, hope I kept it flowing well. Enjoy!

Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter

**Questioning**

Ginny froze when Harry's lips touched her skin, "Thank you for tonight, I can't imagine having a better time." He stood up, gave (what she hoped) was a longing look, before turning and walking away. Ginny was only half aware of what was going on around her when she walked to the drinks table. Grabbing a Butterbeer, she sipped it while collapsing in the nearest chair. She needed to think about tonight, and just figure it out, what it all meant.

"Ginny!" Hermione called coming over by her. When the older girl really got a good look at her friend, she stopped. Ginny's eyes were dazed, they snapped to her and focused when the she heard her name.

"Hi Hermione."

Ginny's hand on her cheek, unfocused eyes, it could only mean one thing. "He kissed you." Hermione said with a huge grin.

Ginny turned fully to her friend, "At the end of that last song. I could swear he was going to kiss me, then the music ended and he just pecked me on the cheek." The youngest Weasley realized her hand was still over the spot, and brought it down self consciously.

"Herm-own-ninny." Viktor said coming up. The redhead noticed he brutalized her friend's name, but Hermione didn't seem to mind. "Thank you for coming vith me," He said courteously, leaning in and kissing her cheek.

Ginny saw that Hermione didn't glow with pleasure, just smiled before answering, "Of course, thank you for asking me." Viktor nodded and headed towards the entrance hall, likely going to the Durmstrang ship. 'She must still be hung up on my brother'.

"So, tell me how your night with Harry went."

Ginny looked longingly at the doors that he had disappeared through just minutes before, "It was wonderful." Ginny giggled as she told the next part, "He was focusing hard on the first dance, counting I guess. After that though we went to the tables and took a break. I needed one too, my legs were shaking with adrenaline. Several songs later when I was getting ancy, not that I was about to say anything, you and Viktor arrived. After you both disappeared, he asked me to dance the next slow song. Merlin that was incredible. I suppose he enjoyed the slow dance, I know I did, because he asked me to dance each time one came up." Ginny mumbled the last part, undoubtedly embarrassed.

"And the last dance?"

"I could swear he wanted to kiss me, he even started to lean forward. But this look came over his features and he kissed me on the cheek instead."

"He doesn't want to ruin his friendship with Ron or the rest of your brothers." Hermione speculated_**. **_"You'll be able to talk to him tomorrow without difficulty right?

Ginny nodded, "I think the dance was good for me, well other than the obvious; how he acted makes me suspect you're right, and that he does return my feelings on some level."

"See, I told you so." Hermione replied, never a gracious winner.

oo0oo

Harry left the hall in a hurry, not giving himself the chance to do something he'd regret, like kiss Ginny. He collapsed on the first floor, around the corner of the steps, and just thought about the last few hours. Her shy friendliness, her uncertainty (which Harry strangely found attractive), her hair, the way she smelled, how she glowed when she smiled. The champion rushed to the nearest bathroom and turned on the cold sink water, vigorously splashing his face he tried to get his mind off her. She was his best mate's bloody sister! He couldn't think about her like this. Leaving the bathroom, he headed up to Gryffindor tower, hoping his longing would disappear after a hopefully restful night's sleep. When he got up to the dormitory, he found Ron waiting for him.

"So how was the dance?"

Harry sighed to himself, knowing he wouldn't get to sleep until after telling Ron about the ball. He couldn't really blame his friend though; he HAD gone with the younger sister.

"I surprised myself in that I actually enjoyed dancing. We shouldn't have done that snowball fight though; my arms burned the first dance, even though your sister is feather light."

"You enjoyed dancing? Who are you and what have you done with the real Harry?" Ron asked incredulously.

Harry grinned tiredly, "I know, I probably had fun because I know it's the last night I get before I actually have to start really focusing on the second task. I'm exhausted though, I'm going to get some sleep."

Ron nodded in response, able to relax now that he knew nothing had happened between his friend and his sister. "One more question, who did Hermione go with?"

Harry immediately started acting shifty. "I'll let her tell you."

"Come on Harry, I'm not going to freak out or anything, just tell me."

"Well… it was… Viktor Krum."

"What!?" Ron yelled, jumping to his feet.

"You said you wouldn't get mad, now I'm going to get some sleep Ron."

Ron's mouth moved like a fish out of water as Harry shut his curtain for privacy, not really wanting to talk to his friend about Hermione. Harry fell asleep wishing things could be different, or that Ron would suddenly get this feeling that his sister and best mate would be great together.

oo0oo

On this side of Christmas, the second task looked a lot closer, and Harry started feeling the pressure. He tried everything with the egg, shaking it before reopening it, asking it questions over the howling, he even threw it at the wall (though he didn't expect it to help), but nothing worked. At least there was a Hogsmeade trip this weekend; he got a break for a day before having to go back to work. Hermione however, was very surprised he was going to go.

"I'd have thought you'd have wanted to stay back and take advantage of the quiet common room, to work on the egg." Harry grimaced knowing that was what he should do, but he didn't see how listening to wailing for an afternoon would help him at all. Better to take a break and rejuvenate his mind.

"That would make sense, if I was you. I don't have the brains to work on something for days without pause, I need a break and listening to wailing in the common room would not be very enjoyable."

"But Harry-."

Ron had his back though, defending him from the workaholic, (admittedly one that was trying to help him, but workaholic none the less. "Hermione, there are three of us this time, this won't go as badly as the first task and we still have weeks."

"Ron-."

"Hermione, I've been working on it, and I don't intend to stop because of one Hogsmeade visit."

His friend looked mutinous but decided not to continue fighting, seeing that it was two against one and she really couldn't disagree.

"Harry, can I have a minute?" A voice that could only be Cedric's emanated from behind the champion. Harry turned and saw Cedric standing there, Cho slightly up the steps from them, waiting. "Yeah sure, what is it?"

The other champion guided him away from potential eavesdroppers, Harry following reluctantly. "Are you having trouble with the egg?"

Giving a noncommittal grunt, the younger boy waited for his counterpart to continue. "Well I owe you for the dragon thing, so if you are, take a bath with the egg it'll help if you mull things over in the hot water…. Trust me."

Harry just stared at him.

"Tell you what," Cedric said, "use the prefects' bathroom. Fourth door to the left of that statue of Boris the Bewildered on the fifth floor. Password is 'pine fresh.' Got to go, Cho' is waiting."

He grinned at Harry and hurried up the stairs to Cho. Harry surprisingly didn't feel that bad about seeing them together, but what kind of a hint was that? He'd told Cedric exactly what was facing them in the first task, and his return advice was to take a bath? Really? He went back to Ron and Hermione, deciding he'd have to stay back the day of Hogsmeade and figure out the egg if the bath hint had results.

"Ok nevermind, I guess I am staying back and working on it." Harry said, rejoining his friends. He didn't look at Hermione though, already knowing she'd be wearing an 'I told you so' look.

"What changed your mind?" Asked Ron.

"Cedric told me to try the egg in the water and see what changes," At Hermione's indignant look, (she likely had a problem with the idea of cheating), he continued, "He felt he owed me for the dragons."

"You told him you were facing dragons?"

"Yeah I ran into Karkaroff and Maxine on the way to the hold, so if I hadn't said anything, Cedric would be the only one not knowing what we were facing."

oo0oo

Ginny was heading back to the common room, from Charms, when she saw Harry on the fifth floor. It was her first time seeing him since the ball, and for some reason his hair was soaking wet, as if he'd just gotten out of the shower. She hesitated before walking towards him, determined not to blush or any of that ridiculousness.

"Harry… Um why is your hair wet?"

He stopped and turned towards her, then joined her, "I was working on the egg," he said, then stepped closer, causing her heart to flutter, and lowered his voice, "Cedric gave me the idea of using the egg under water."

"Did you figure it out?"

"Yeah, the problem is, I can't breathe under water. The second task is in the lake."

Ginny looked for the bright spot, she didn't like seeing him like this, "Well at least you have plenty of time to work on this one."

Harry shook his head, "The time goes a lot faster than you'd think. Hermione persuaded me to not join them in Hogsmeade this weekend, and take the quiet to find a solution."

Having next to no contact with Harry since the ball (it was only three days ago, but it felt a lot longer to her), Ginny saw her chance, "I can stay here with you, try and help you find a way."

Seeing Harry turn red, the youngest Weasley thought that maybe Hermione was right after all, maybe he did like her… but what about Cho? "No I couldn't ask you to stay back with me. All I'm going to be doing is scouring book after book, not nearly as much fun as Hogsmeade."

When Ginny told him she was sure, his heart soared with excitement. He'd not only be getting company, but it was Ginny, and Ron wouldn't be there. Harry rationalized that if this absurd desire didn't stop, he'd have to break the news to Ron that he liked his sister, and Harry really did not look forward to that.

"Hey, you know when you offered to help me with quidditch?" Ginny asked.

Harry nodded. "Well did you really mean it or were you just saying it?"

"No I meant it, I love flying and if we can get you on the team, it'll be more Weasleys than not."

"Well do you want to go out and fly right now? You look like you could use the freedom, and your hair could use the drying."

A grin split his face, "Sure, I need to get out and away from this wailing. I'll grab my Firebolt and see you out there?"

Ginny nodded and turning around, headed back down the steps. Harry had said yes, she felt like she could fly right now, broom or no broom. She got out to the quidditch locker rooms and grabbed George's broom, kicking off she soared through the air, huge grin on her face. 'Maybe Hermione's right,' she thought, 'maybe I do have a chance, and I can at least talk in front of him now.' She did several laps around the pitch in excitement before landing and sitting in the stands. Harry came out of the locker rooms several minutes later, holding his Firebolt. Ginny remounted her broom and descended to him.

"Let's get the chest."

Harry nodded and they went into the storage building, each grabbing a handle they took it outside and opened it. Grabbing the quaffle he took off, yelling 'come on' to Ginny who mounted and joined him.

"Ok show me how well you can fly, like sharp turning and accelerations/decelerations." He commanded.

She was quite confident in her broom control so she did a lap around the stadium, feeling very self conscious because being watched by your crush, who is also your coach in this situation, does that to a person, and then looped in and out of the goal posts.

"Ok now I'll play Keeper, score on me."

So she did. Harry certainly wasn't Wood, but he was just good enough to provide a challenge for the aspiring Chaser. He caught some at the very edge of his fingertips, and completely missed others. By the time they were done Ginny had a sore arm and jelly legs when she asked them to support her. She started going down, only to be caught by Harry with an arm around her waist.

"Woah woah, I don't think you want to eat dirt."

The arm around her waist wasn't helping her support herself as her legs had started trembling. She pulled away with a mumbled 'thanks' and refused to look at him, red in the face.

They walked back up to the castle, side by side, but not speaking, a companionable silence. Harry came out with a very unexpected question, "Are you interested in me, or the Boy Who Lived?

Ginny flushed and felt Harry's eyes on her. Her mind worked desperately for an answer, because she really didn't know herself. "I… I'm interested in the boy who saved my life, and I want to get to know Harry Potter."

Ginny quickly looked over and saw to her astonishment, he was blushing. Being a typical guy, he responded to embarrassment with gruffness. "Well you're getting to know him," he sped up and headed into the castle, leaving Ginny behind. She thought about how he'd been the perfect gentleman at the ball (and asked her to it in the first place), then he'd offered her help with quidditch even though he had the Triwizard Tournament on his mind. 'Though,' she reasoned, 'he could have agreed to play quidditch today because I offered to help him with the egg'.

She didn't even notice she'd entered the castle until Hermione called her name. Looking up, she joined her friend walking into the great hall. Once again, Hermione sat by Ron, leaving Ginny to sit by Harry. She uncertainly took the seat and put food on her plate, only to pick at it, not actually eat. When Ginny sat down Harry stopped eating as well and started picking at his food; there was too much awkwardness to eat, something that Ron, even in all his obliviousness, noticed. He opened his mouth, but Hermione kicked his shin before he could say anything; she jerked her head at the door to the entrance hall, as if she needed to talk to him. Ron hesitated for a second, looking suspiciously at his friend and sister, before following her out.

"What's up with them?"

"How much did Harry tell you about the dance?"

Ron groaned, exasperated with how often Hermione answered questions with more questions. "Just that he surprised himself by enjoying dancing, which I find pretty strange."

"He surprised himself by enjoying dancing... with Ginny, see the correlation?"

"What correlation," (why did she have to use big words), "is there?"

Hermione felt like face palming, "Well let's just say he wouldn't have enjoyed dancing, if it hadn't been Ginny." She felt like she was divulging private information, even though she wasn't telling Ron anything Harry had told her. She saw this herself; though admittedly, Ron would probably get his knickers in a bundle over this, but there was nothing she could do; he would find out eventually.

"What? No, Harry does doesn't have a thing for my sister, why would he? She can barely get out a cohesive sentence around him."

"You haven't noticed she's gotten better? And started hanging out with us? I can tell you for certain, she doesn't do that to spend time with you."

Ron looked like his friend had betrayed his trust and had done the unforgivable. Turning decisively he headed back into the great hall, only to stop when Hermione's hand grasped his arm.

"Who would you rather have with your sister?"

"She's only thirteen! She's too young to date."

"And if you had any confidence, you'd have asked a girl to the ball. Just because you're not self-confident means that your sister can't have anyone either? And they're not even dating; Harry cares too much about your friendship to ever ask her out, I don't think he even knows he likes her."

"Just as long as he knows she's off limits. Tabooed. Forbidden."

"He knows that, and he'd tell you himself if he planned anything."

"Good."

Hermione had long since dropped her hand from his arm, but reached out again. "Thank you Ron," she said, looking him straight in the eye. Ron's stomach did a weird little summersault, leaving him not sure what to think.

oo0oo

A/N: To the guest who reviewed- Yes I'm German (and proud of it), but I can't read or write in it. Online translators are my friend xD

Please review :D

Geheim


	6. Desire

A/N: Whew! This was a long chapter. Enjoy!

Disclaimer- It's all Rowling's

oo0oo

**Desire**

Ginny woke up Saturday morning and thought about her interactions with Harry. There was that night, where she'd fallen asleep on his lap and woke up with his hand knitted through her hair. There was the Yule Ball, where his hands felt like heating brands on her hips and she'd really wanted him to kiss her. And then there was flying with him and him and the freedom that goes along with it. She remembered the question he asked her, "Are you interested in me, or the Boy Who Lived?". She'd been very surprised at his forwardness at the time, but kind of liked it; directness was something she wasn't used to with the guys she talked to. That led to the awkward silence between them, but hopefully they'd move past it. At least she had the full day to spend with him, he was staying back from the Hogsmeade trip to work on the second task, and she'd offered to help him.

Ginny got out of bed and prepared for the day: showering, putting on something nice, brushing her hair, and heading down to breakfast. Ron came forward towards her right after she left the common room, as if he'd been waiting. "Do you have a thing with Harry?" He asked accusingly.

"What? What kind of a question is that?"

"A fair one," he said self-righteously

That started her blood boiling, "And how exactly is that your business?"

"I'm his best mate, and your brother."

"Oh so you're telling me if you ever get into a relationship I can demand to know everything about it? Just because I'm your sister? That's awfully pigheaded Ron, even for you."

"I'm your brother!" He half shouted, taking a step forward. Being your typical Weasley girl, she got right up in his face, and practically hissed at him, "I don't care who you are. I don't care if you're Merlin himself. Stay out of MY business. And if you really want drama so bad, there's a girl waiting for you to make a move, you just have to open your eyes. Brother." She said the last word with a derisive snort and then stomped away, hearing a 'who' from behind but ignoring it.

All Ginny wanted was to be in different family. She wasn't unlucky enough to have an older brother, no, she had seven. At least Fred and George weren't overprotective pricks like Ron. Maybe she could talk them into pranking-. All angry thoughts left her mind as she entered the great hall. Harry and Hermione were already sitting, their heads close together. She felt a stab of uncertainty (as she usually did when he was involved), but decidedly ignored it and walked over to them and sat down. The conversation ended as she walked up and Harry leaned back, to her surprise and pleasure, with his face colored slightly. Hermione however, was obviously fighting to conceal a smile, and was only half successful. She kicked Ginny under the table, apparently impressed with the guts she had to sit by her crush. Ginny loaded her plate and breakfast passed uneventfully after that, with only small talk breaking the silence between the three, when Ron made his entrance to the great hall.

Ginny decisively stood up, and marched out, grabbing a piece of toast as she went. She gave her brother an angry glare and was incensed when he kept that stupid self-righteous look on his face.

She was stomping up the stairs to the first floor when she heard someone behind her, "Ginny! Ginny, slow down dang it." She turned in surprise and saw none other than Harry, her temper instantly evaporating.

"Oh, hey Harry." She said, stopping and waiting for him.

"Did you really need to walk so fast? And what did Ron do anyways?"

To the first question, it was the Weasley temper, and she really didn't want to answer the second. "Sorry, I didn't think anyone was following me. Why are you?" She didn't mean to make it sound accusatory, it just… sort of… happened.

His face soured up as he answered, "Is it a problem?"

"No!" Ginny was embarrassed at the strength of her response, but managed to cover it up effectively, "No, I just expected you to be with Ron and Hermione till they left."

"What did he do that pissed you off so much?"

She felt herself push her hair behind her ear; and hoped Harry didn't recognize it in her as a symptom of shiftiness. "Can we not go into that?"

As Harry had asked only out of idle curiosity (and seeing Ginny's uncomfortability with it), he was quick to move the conversation on. "Neither of them are staying back just to give me company." Ginny nodded in understanding. They took a right on the first landing and passed McGonagall's classroom, who was teaching what looked like second years; showing them how to turn a hedgehog into a pincushion. They entered the library and started looking through books for a way to breathe under water, under Madam Pince's watchful eye.

oo0oo

Harry was very aware of Ginny as she was helping him, her hair shined in the light and caught his eye each time she moved her head. Shaking his head, disgusted with himself, he went back to _Madcap Magic for Wacky Warlocks. _They'd already gone through _An Anthology of Eighteenth Century Charms, _and _Powers You Never Knew You Had and What to Do with Them Now You've Wised Up, _whose title was a mouthful, without any form of success.

"I've got something!" Ginny whisper/yelled, and Harry's head snapped towards her. She was two thirds of the way through _Dreadful Denizens of the Deep_, and was pointing excitedly at a spell on a page. Harry walked around the table and put a hand on the back of her chair, 'I know it's not necessary, I just want to feel closer, so sue me, she's a good friend," was his rationalization as he bent over the book. As he did, his nose filled with the strong scent (he still couldn't put a name on it) of her. He closed his eyes for a second a breathed in before looking at what she was pointing at. The spell was _Aqua Spiritus_ and it allowed a person to breathe under water by forming a globe of air around their head, if they performed it right. Harry noticed something however, that Ginny hadn't; she was in the sixth year section. He pointed that out to her, and even though he couldn't see it, he felt her face fall.

"I'll give it a try, we'll see if I can actually get this to work." He said, patting her shoulder comradely. He didn't know it but she froze at his touch, still not used to have a physical connection with him, even after the ball. Putting the book back, they headed out to the lake. Arriving there, he casted the spell on himself, but hesitated when he felt no different. Feeling Ginny's eyes on him, he muttered, "This is going to be cold," before sticking his head in. He most certainly could NOT breathe under water and came up hacking his lungs out.

Ginny rushed forward, concerned look on her face, "You okay?"

Harry coughed hard again before responding, "Blech. I cannot breathe underwater, and I don't recommend you try either. It's NOT fun." He said, looking her straight in the eye in all seriousness, causing her to giggle. She had come close to see if he was alright, now he took advantage of that and shook his head hard, sending water everywhere.

Ginny squeaked in surprise when she was unexpectedly hit with droplets of ice cold lake water before looking at Harry like she couldn't believe he had the audacity to do such a thing. Harry thought the look was extremely cute, and the squeak was just adorable. He guffawed loudly before having to dodge her retaliation as she stuck her hands into the water and started throwing it at him.

This turned into a water fight that lasted almost a half hour that at the end of, they were both soaking. Collapsing on the cold (and now wet) ground they gasped for breath through their peals of laughter. It didn't take long for Ginny started shivering uncontrollably and Harry wasn't far behind. "Do y-you know a h-heating or warmi-ing spell?" She struggled to get out through trembling lips.

Harry shook his head and got to his feet. He stepped over to Ginny and helped her up before putting his arms around her for warmth and guiding her inside. Ginny's mind was going as haywire as her body was cold. She thought to herself, 'You know, if getting cold like this results in him putting his arms around me, maybe I should do it more often'. Even with how much she was still shaking, she was extremely aware of his left arm across her shoulders, his right around her stomach and his breathing in her ear as he panted trying to regain his breath from their fight. Little did she know but Harry was having the same distraction. Her hair was in his face and the smell was making him lightheaded (with how good, how right, it was), and both her hands were over his as if to return as much of the meager heat as they could.

Both their bodies felt on fire despite the shivering and they weren't looking forward to a miserable trek up to the seventh floor. Harry saw that McGonagall's classroom door was open and thankfully the fire was lit inside. He dragged Ginny in and they sat down, leaning against the stone with the fire to their right. His arm hadn't retracted itself, though it had fallen to around her lower back, she certainly wasn't about to complain.

"Maybe that wasn't the smartest thing to do," thought Ginny out loud.

"Water fight in the mi-iddle of winter? No I don't think it was." Harry said, not able to completely hide his tremble. Ginny's head half-turned before she scooted closer, pressing their sides together. He fought savagely to convince himself that it was just about containing the maximum available body heat, that it wasn't about her interest in him, but he knew better, it was about both.

The crackling of the fire, and the fact that she could drink in Harry's presence,

produced an irresistible sense of lethargy. By the time Ginny had warmed up, she'd started drowsing and her head had fallen to his chest, torso slumping slightly. Harry's nerves were already on fire and when she fell asleep something blossomed in his chest. He ruthlessly put it down, 'She's Ron's sister, and off limits; how I feel is irrelevant,' he thought. He couldn't stop himself though, from running his hand once through her damp hair. There were very few kinks as he ran through, showing she'd brushed it will this morning, but even with how smoothly his hand went through, she woke up.

Ginny stayed stock still, determined not to let him find out she was awake, just enjoying his hand playing with her hair. After the first downstroke, he did a second, before tenderly tucking her bangs behind her ears. His hand fell to her lap, resting on her thigh. For several minutes she sat there, enjoying the feel of his chest against her back rising and falling with his breathing, the arm around her, and the hand on her lap, before she decided to 'wake up'. Harry withdrew his hand immediately, apparently embarrassed, "You warm now?"

She would have felt disappointed by a practical question like that, if she hadn't woken up before and felt him running his hand through her hair. She shivered unconsciously and nodded, small uncertain smile on her face. She realized just then how close they were, how close their faces were. Ginny stared into his eyes, losing herself in their depths and desperately hoping he would kiss her. His head bowed the smallest of amounts and his eyes closed, as if regaining self control. He then helped her up and they made their way back to the library, checking out a stack of books so they could go through them in Gryffindor tower, in comfort and most importantly, warmth.

oo0oo

Harry helped Ginny to her feet forcing his mind to stay on task. They checked out books to scour back in the common room and left the library. Walking up to the seventh floor, step-for-step with Ginny, nothing being said, was a terribly good time to think about what had just happened. So Harry did, he thought about the fun he'd had goofing around with her by the lake. Then the worry he'd felt when she started trembling, and the relief when McGonagall's classroom was open and her fire lit. They'd sat down by the fire, his arm around her for heat and only for heat (Harry wouldn't allow himself to think anything else. She's Ron's sister), and her leaning ever so slightly against him. He could still feel her body slump into his when she'd dozed off, and the incredible feeling of her head dropping to her chest; each breath deep with her whole body moving, rising and falling. The feel of her hair when his hand was running through it, so soft, so lustrous. He had inhaled deeply, wanting more of her musky scent, smelling it through whatever she put on. His hand had fallen to her lap, and several minutes later she'd woken. She turned to him and it had been so hard not to kiss her. He was pretty sure she wanted it too, but he'd had no choice. He had to turn away to regain some semblance of self control. He had saw her disappointed loo-

Ginny had just grabbed his hand, interlocking her fingers with his. He stared at her, unable to form a comprehensive thought and she watched him back.

oo0oo

They were making their way up to Gryffindor tower and Ginny was fighting with herself. 'Take his hand!' One side of her ordered. Then, 'No. Don't, you'll only embarrass yourself', the other side responded. 'What's the worst he can do? Turn you down? Well if he doesn't, this may turn into something,' The first side argued. They were on the fifth floor before Ginny had the nerve to reach out and grab his hand. It was warmer than hers, and slightly bigger; his head snapped to her and he seemed unable to say anything. She gazed back, waiting for some kind of response; then she got one; his fingers curling over the back of her hand and squeezing almost imperceptibly. They entered the Gryffindor common room, separating hands and sitting down on the nearest couch.

Ginny, though happy to help, had to admit that Harry was right. He warned her that this would be dreadfully boring and it was; the whole day was boring other than well… a lot of it. The search went on throughout the afternoon, neither person speaking much, both reveling in the other's presence (even though each of them didn't know the other was enjoying it).

At six they went down to dinner and saw Ron and Hermione were back.

"Harry!" Ron shouted in greeting. "You missed out. The Three Broomsticks had this new drink that was even better than Butterbeer."

"What did you do this whole time?" Hermione asked, directing her question at Harry but looking at Ginny.

"Well I learned that I can't breathe underwater; that's for sure." Harry answered.

Ginny felt she had to add something, "I think he coughed a lung out," she said chuckling. "I found this charm that allows one to extract oxygen from water, but it was a sixth year spell. Harry couldn't do it."

"You'll have to show me that one after dinner," Hermione said meaningfully. Harry had sat down by Ron and dove into his meal, complaining about being famished. Ginny was hungry too and at almost as fast as her crush and dinner was over quickly; they all headed back up to the common room.

"Chess game?" Ron asked Harry.

When Harry agreed they plunged in and, as usual, Ron lost all sense of his surroundings. Ginny sat by Harry and leaned back with Hermione joining her.

The older girl was obviously impressed that the redhead had the guts to sit by her crush, and asked what changed.

"Well I stayed back with him today to help him, and as you know, before you two left he came after me. We went to the library and searched." Leaning in she whispered conspiratorially, "Don't tell him I said this, but the search part was really boring. I found the spell, we went out to the lag and he tried it. Needless to say, it didn't work, and he intentionally got me wet once he came up. That turned into a water fight, in the middle of winter, and we ended up in McGonagall's classroom by the fire. I dozed off on him again and then when we were coming up I told his hand, he returned my grip, and it was crazy."

Hermione, never the gracious winner said, "I told you he had feelings for you, but seriously, I'm really happy for you."

"He had an opportunity to kiss me again today," Ginny said, dropping her voice carefully, "But once again he stopped himself. I could tell he wanted to though."

Her friend nodded knowledgably, "He doesn't want to ruin anything with Ron; he values their friendship too much."  
Ginny eyed her friend slyly, "Well maybe if Ron ended up with someone, not that I have any idea who, he'd lighten up about Harry and me."

Hermione looked honestly confused, "But who has feelings for Ron?" And in response, the younger girl just raised an eyebrow. When realization hit the older girls face, it started flushing. "No I don't!" She hissed angrily. When Ginny's eyebrow stayed up disbelievingly Hermione had to explain herself. "Ok well maybe I do! He's too blind to see it though."

Ginny nodded empathetically, "Oh I know that; my brother makes bats look like eagles. How did Hogsmeade go?"

Hermione had to stop herself from smiling remembering the past day, "It was great. We stopped at all the usual places: Honeydukes, Zonkos, Three Broomsticks. We stopped at the WWN headquarters for the first time as well."

Seeing an opportunity to poke fun at her friend, Ginny did so. "So it was almost like… a date?"

The rare times Hermione actually fully blushes, she puts the Weasleys to shame. She just didn't turn red, her whole body showed her uncomfortableness. This was one of those times and she turned crimson. Her hand came up to her hair and she spun it around a finger several times before realizing it was the habit she was trying to break. She bit her bottom lip and her eyes anxiously flashed over Ron to see if he'd pulled his head out of the chess bubble. Thankfully for her, he hadn't and she turned to Ginny angrily.

Ginny spoke before Hermione could berate her though, "Oh calm down; he's lost in his chess game, and would it really be such a bad thing if he knew you were interested? He feels that way for you, and on the plus side, it might get him of my back"

Hermione thought about this and didn't respond. The chess game dragged on and on, Harry putting up more of a fight than usual as the minutes passed and Ginny started to nod off. Hermione put her mouth by her friends ear, "I'll take care Ron, lay down on the couch and put your head on his lap."

Ginny's head snapped to her friend, mortified, "I've gained some confidence but not that much." She hissed back.

Her friend played her trump card though, "If you do this, I'll start trying to show your brother I have feelings for him."

The younger girl's eyes rolled to the heavens before nodding resignedly. Hermione changed locations to the sofa Ron was sitting on, being sure to have their sides touching. She didn't expect any reaction from Ginny's brother and was therefore shocked when he turned and looked at her, appreciative surprise on his face. She smiled uncertainly back and tipped her head to the chess game, hand lifting discretely, in a stop sign telling Ginny to hold off until Ron was back in the game. The younger girl nodded and waited patiently for Hermione's hand to go down, no longer tired as adrenaline surged through her system.

The hand went down and Ginny grabbed a pillow and repositioned herself, laying her head on Harry's lap. His beautiful green eyes were wide with incredulity as he stared down at her for a second, and she stared right back at him. 'Don't you dare bring Ron's attention to us idiot!' She thought desperately and jerked her head at the game. She turned to watch it, unknowingly affording Harry a wonderful view of the soft curve of her neck. Harry stared for half a second, unable to turn away. Ginny however, was aware of his eyes on her, opened wide in shock (or was it maybe admiration), and however good it felt, she didn't want his drooling to ruin the moment for her.

She punched him in the leg, which seemed to wake him up and he went back to the chess game; now giving Ginny the freedom to watch him if she wished, and watch him she did. His strong jaw line moved when he swallowed, and she followed its progress down his neck to his shirt line. Eyes roaming back to his face she watched him hungrily, thinking for a heartbeat how many years she'd waited for this, before that thought faded as well. She noticed (now only half paying attention to the game) that Harry started getting dominated. 'Now that could be because I'm here on his lap,' she reasoned, 'Or it could be because he feels me watching him.' Having no intention of stopping however, she was quite content that Harry lost, after all, it was only a matter of time. Right as Ron checkmated Harry, Hermione stood up, dragging the other boy with her. Ginny noticed that her friend's hand was gripping her brother's wrist quite tightly, but couldn't bring herself to care. They both left, and Ginny was happy, as she got to return to the feeling of contentment she'd had that night before the ball.

Harry watched Ron and Hermione walk away before bowing his head to look at Ginny. He almost had to look away as she was staring at him with one of her blazing looks, something he'd only seen twice before. In his second year in Flourish and Blott's when she'd jumped to defend him from Malfoy's accusations, and just a few nights ago when they'd had that first dance at the ball. He allowed himself to drown in her eyes, almost unaware of his hand moving to her head and brushing her bangs out of her face. She closed her eyes slightly at his touch and he couldn't stop himself from caressing her cheek, instigating her head turning slightly into his hand.

For the first time, Harry truly got to look at and admire her lips. Ruby red and as luscious as they get (at least in Harry's meager experience), his eyes stayed there for a while, and felt no urge to move. He blinked and couldn't believe his rebellious hand, it was moving to her face without his permission and slide over her bottom lip extraordinarily softly, and he took immense pleasure in watching the simple movement of her licking her lips.

Ginny, who was in heaven right now, decided to end the night with a bang, a very slow bang, and her brother couldn't even get angry at her when he found out because he'd said it was alright by leaving without comment. She sat up, swinging her legs to the floor and scooting herself so she was leaning against Harry. She heard his contented sigh and his arm wrapped around her almost possessively which she found intensely attractive. Laying her head on his shoulder they just sat there for what felt to her like both a few seconds, and an hour, but was likely only around ten minutes. The fire was crackling peacefully and the wind was howling outside. The hourly bell struck eight times… eight! Maybe it hadn't been ten minutes, it must have been a lot longer if it was already eight. She turned her head up so she could look at Harry, and saw utter relaxation on his face.

Ginny wasn't very far from the mark as Harry was more relaxed than he'd been since his name was pulled out of the goblet. His thumb was circling arithmetically on her diaphragm and his fingers were splayed out on her stomach. An unexpected thought of Cho whisked across his mind, but it dissolved along with thoughts of the second task. Harry treasured every breath as each one was filled with Ginny's musky scent (still being there from their water fight) combined with whatever shampoo she used. As she turned her head back forwards, he lowered his nose to her hair, and inhaled slowly and deeply, practically getting light headed. They sat there for hours, hearing the nine o'clock bell, then the ten bell. Hermione and Ron came back through the common room shortly after ten and each went up to their respective dormitories; not before Ron gave Harry a warning stare. The latter though, felt as if things couldn't get better, with Ginny resting on him, his best mate not going to cause problems, and hopefully a way to get through the second task (with all the help Ginny had given him today).

After another long pause of silence, Ginny heard the eleven o'clock bell ringing and figured it was time for her to go up to her dorm, but not before one last thing. For the second time, she tilted her head up, angling it much farther than the first time. Her thumb had started circling the back of his hand, and his had mysteriously stopped. She saw how Harry seemed to be fighting with himself, over what, she had no idea, but she'd certainly provide the answer. She stretched her neck slightly, silent willing him to kiss her. His left arm tightened covetously and his right hand came up and stroked her cheek gently. His eyes closed momentarily as his hand roamed her cheek and then to her neck, before they opened with fire in them. He leaned forward and closed the distance between their lips. And yet with all the fire in his eyes, Ginny noticed that the kiss was very careful, unsure, and she made sure to kiss him back enthusiastically, intensifying the urgency; his hand dove into her hair and massaged softly before he pulled his head back, hand not moving from her hair. His eyes were dark, pupils fully dilated before the lids came over them for a second. They reopened and she felt the pressure of his stare, felt his hand moving slightly in her hair, his arm was still holding her possessively.

Ginny smiled at Harry, leaning forward quickly and giving him a peck on the lips. His arm restrained her from pulling away for a second before it too relaxed. They stood up in synchrony, both knowing the dream night was at an end.

"Thank you for all the help today Ginny." Harry said, reaching out and touching her hair one last time before he'd have to sleep and then rejoin the real world.

"Anytime."

oo0oo

Harry heard the eleven o'clock ring and knew they'd have to go to bed soon. Hyper aware with Ginny in his arms, he certainly noticed when her face turned up towards his. Her eyes narrowed slightly and her hand started rubbing his. Fully knowledgeable about what this was going towards he froze, turning towards her, hand stopping its rhythmic movement. He lost himself in the caramel depths of her eyes as long as he could tolerate it, fighting with himself about if he should or shouldn't. Ginny answered for him as she stretched her neck slightly farther, eyes burning into his. He tightened his arm around her and gently touched her cheek; he closed his eyes and slid his hand over it, before arriving at the soft curve of her neck and marveling at how this girl has always had feelings for him, even though he's just Harry. Making a decision he opened his yes, arm tightening demandingly, and moved his head forward, meeting her lips. When she began kissing him back, he couldn't stop himself from thrusting his hand into her hair, awed by what he considered perfection.

Ginny pulled back, grinned, and pecked him on the lips. He had to physically restrain himself from moving forward to her again and they stood up. He thanked her for the help and touched her hair once more. She nodded, said 'anytime', and they went their separate ways.

oo0oo

A/N: Specal thanks to stars90, scrappy8, and dualt3883 for reviewing on most of my chapters.

To the guest that said you can't hear someone roll their eyes in chapter one, I know that; but if friends are extremely close, they 'can'.

Shinen no Hikari- Yes I believe you're right, and when I get a chance I'll go back and fix that. Thanks for pointing it out; and this German thanks you :D.

sabrina-luna-potter- Percabeth is too cliché for me, I'm more of a Percy/Zoe person, but to each their own. PJO is a great series.

MissEspeon- Thank you very much :D. I don't think much of a lot of the Hinny fics either, so I thought I'd try my hand at it. And you won't be disappointed, the morning after you post, I deliver.

dualt3993- I have to disagree with you about Ron; he's an extraordinary friend to Harry and loyal as they come. He just doesn't come out very positively in my fic because he's so over protective of his little sister.

musicfan1346- Your wish is my command :D

I was really unsure when writing this, please review and let me know how I did. Either way, hope you all enjoyed! :D

Geheim


	7. Relief

Disclaimer- It's all Rowling's

oo0oo

**Relief**

Hermione dragged Ron out of the dormitory, wanting to give Ginny a night with Harry. Aware of his leaning back, likely wanting to refuse, she tugged on his arm once more and he came grudgingly. Bringing him to the nearest classroom, Hermione hesitated, unsure of what to say, Ron however, did not have that problem. "What's my sister think she's doing?"

"You know how I told you Harry wouldn't make a move on _Ginny_?" She said, emphasizing, her friend's name, and therefore her right to make her own decisions (though Merlin knows if he actually noticed that). At Ron's nod she continued, "I didn't say anything about her making moves on him."

"She shouldn't! She wouldn't! She's only thirteen," Ron barked.

"You know Ron, I think you might be taking this over protective thing a bit far. You're only one year older than her."

"I'm still her older brother!" he said, self righteous as always.

"Just because you're her older brother, doesn't give you the right to meddle in her personal affairs." Hermione spat, thoroughly tired of Ron and his own insecurities manifesting in this 'self-righteous brother' business. "You know she was considering dating Michael Corner, just to piss you off."

He looked shocked at that, prompting her to continue, "She's thirteen. She's not your little sister anymore that needs to be protected. Ginny never HAS needed to be protected."

Ron's brow furrowed stubbornly; Hermione reached out and grabbed his arm. "Just think about it okay?" He really wanted to go stomping in there and break them up, but he couldn't say no to her; he had never been able to.

"Okay, okay, Harry doesn't even like her that way, so we're good." Ron stuck to that like it was a lifeline for his sister, even with his doubts of his friend's feelings.

Putting a hand on his arm, trying a physical connection to penetrate his thick skull, she said, "There is no one better for Ginny."

He sputtered, "She doesn't need anyone yet!"

Hermione snorted, "Ron she's only a year younger than us. Dating one guy, Harry may I add, won't kill her."

Realizing where he was, and more importantly, who he was it, Ron dropped the subject. They talked much more calmly until after ten, when Hermione decided they'd better get some sleep. Going back through the common room, he saw Harry and Ginny on the couch. Ginny looked cozy, snuggled into his friend's side, and with the happy look on her face, he decided to leave them alone; but not before giving Harry a hard stare.

oo0oo

. Ginny woke up Sunday morning, and just lay in bed, thinking about the previous night. Harry had actually kissed her; she couldn't believe it. Spending the perfect day yesterday, all of it in his company, going through books before having a water fight, then warming up on McGonagall's hearth, more researching, laying down her head on his lap, and then the kiss.

"Why are you smiling so much?" Her dorm mate, Kathryn asked.

Ginny looked over at her classmate and considered telling the truth. "Oh I'm just happy we have another day off before having to return to classes," she said, trying to come off as unfocused as that one Ravenclaw in her year. What was her name… Luna, that was it.

Kathryn looked disbelieving for a second before shrugging and leaving. Ginny remembered how Harry's mouth had dropped on Yule night, and she wanted the same reaction from him today, when she knew he had feelings for her.

Heading to the fourth year dorms, Lavender was just walking out.

"Is Hermione in there?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah why?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to talk to her about something."

The redhead entered, "Hermione?"

"In here." Hermione called from the dorm bathroom.

Ginny walked in to find her friend trying tame her mane of bushy hair, a hopeless cause if she ever knew one. "Trying to impress someone?" She asked pointedly.

That got a reaction; Hermione spun, looking guilty about it, "No I-, why are you here?" She asked.

"Whatever it was that you put in my hair, the stuff that made it shiny, do you have any left?"

The older girl grinned, happy that she now had the advantage, "Trying to impress someone are we?"

Ginny couldn't prevent a blush from stealing onto her face, "I remember how he looked at me when I met him for the Yule Ball, and I… I want that again,"She said self consciously.

'No, sorry. If you would have told me yesterday I could have picked you up some more in Hogsmeade."

Ginny the fourth year dorms disappointed, but not before agreeing to meet Hermione for breakfast in a half hour.

Ginny walked into the great hall thirty minutes later and saw Hermione sitting by the boys. She made her way over; for once, confident in her ability to have a conversation with Harry, now sure that he liked her. Sitting down by them she glanced at Hermione, who seemed to be hiding a smile. Then Ron, who was undoubtedly restraining himself from commenting, like he should. And then she met Harry's eyes, and was hit by a crippling shyness; as bad as it was in second year after he'd rescued her. He blushed too when they made eye contact, allowing her to feel a bit better about herself.

"Hi," Ginny said with uncertainty, not failing to notice that Hermione was no longer able to conceal her smile.

"G'morning," Harry immediately went back to his food, knowing this would only get worse if he looked her in the eyes. Last night had been amazing, he thought to himself, it was like a dream, and so he hesitated with her. 'Pretend it never happened', he thought to himself, unsure of what to do if... that had to be taken into account.

"So what are you guys doing today?" Harry asked the group at large.

"Studying, I need to prepare for the transfiguration test." Hermione said, lathering her toast with butter.

"The test isn't for two weeks." Ron complained, sounding disgusted that she was already preparing.

"Well then I'll be ready for it two weeks from now," came the snippy reply.

Ron met Harry's eyes, seeming to have forgotten Ginny completely, and shook his head in exasperation. Breakfast went smoothly after that, but whenever there was an extended silence, both Harry and Ginny would have to fight not to blush, with mixed results.

After breakfast, "Game of chess Harry? You were putting up a fight last night, until you got… distracted," Ron offered, obviously refusing to think about what distracted his friend.

"Nah I've got to find something for the second task. Ginny and I went through a dozen books yesterday and didn't find anything," and so search he did.

oo0oo

Wednesday before the Second Task

Harry groaned as he set down _Magical Drafts and Potions, _it looks like there wasn't a potion to breathe underwater either. He'd already looked: for a charm with no luck, then tried to find a self transfiguration spell that was fourth year, and now a failed effort with potions, all with only three days left till the second task. There was no way he'd find and learn something in three days. Ok yes, he'd done it with the first task, but it wasn't that simple this time.

Harry slammed the book shut, frustrated, and stomped up to the boys fourth year dormitories.

"What's the problem Harry?" Neville asked. Neville was a round faced innocent looking boy. Back in their first year, Malfoy would always pick on him because he still had baby fat, but by now he was starting to turn that into muscle. He was still only confident in herbology, but he wasn't as timid with everything else anymore, leading to a lot more people liking him, and a lot fewer people picking on him.

"Oh it's just the second task, it's impossible."

"What's the problem?"

"Champions have to work out a solution on their own, but thanks Neville."

The other boy looked at Harry sardonically, "I'm not stupid, Ron and Hermione both have been helping you with it, and I don't think you're going to find something on your own in three days, a little help isn't that much to ask, as you are the youngest champion."

Harry thought about it for a minute before conceding defeat, he really had no chance if he worked on it alone. "It's in the lake; the mermaids will take someone I love and if I don't get to them within the hour, they…. die. I need a way to breathe underwater."The champion finished hopefully, but not really believing Neville would be able to help.

To Harry's astonishment, the other boy's eyes lit up. "Gillyweed!"

"Gilly- what?"

"I read about it in _Magical Water Plants of the Mediterranean_, the book Professor Moody gave me, " Neville exclaimed excitedly, "It's a plant that gives you gills for a short period of time. I think it's an hour too, where is it?" He rummaged frantically through his belongings, enthusiastic at the opportunity to help. Yanking a book and a shirt out of his suitcase, he threw the shirt aside and started rifling through the book. "Here it is! Yes, it gives you gills for an hour after you eat it."

Harry felt hope dawning on him for the first time in weeks, it was like the sun coming out, even though it was a rainy day. "Do you know where I can get that?"

Neville grinned, "Should be pretty easy to find out. Page two sixty-four…" he muttered to himself, flipping to the back where the index was. "Ah yes, gillyweed, you can get it at…" At this point his face fell dramatically, dashing Harry's hopes as well. "It says for Britain it needs to be custom ordered, it takes a week to two weeks to arrive."

Harry cursed himself under his breath, 'My cockiness and refusal to ask for help screws me over, there's no way I'll be able to get it in time'.

"I'm sorry Harry, I can help you find something else?" The other boy offered.

"No no, there has to be some in the castle," Harry said, almost talking to himself at this point. "If anyone knows where I can find it, it's Hermione."

Harry raced down the steps, Neville following more slowly. Upon entering the common room, he saw Ron, Hermione, and Ginny sitting around the fire. Ron was putting away his schoolbag and rubbing his eyes (Harry suspected he'd just finished his charms essay), Hermione was sitting back lofty look on her face (she'd likely been helping him, and saying 'I told you so'), and then Ginny. She was the one that really caught his eye. She was sitting with a book in her hands, Harry was too far to see the title, and as he came rushing down, her head snapped up and they made eye contact. The past several weeks, nothing had happened between them but Harry had to take a deep breath whenever he saw her unexpectedly, he reasoned he was falling prey to the Potter Curse.. Sure they'd hung out, but it was always with Ron, Hermione, or others, so they never really got a chance to a deep breath to boost his confidence, and reminding himself he didn't need to talk to her right now, Harry made his way over to the group.

"Hermione, I need help with the second task," he said urgently.

Both Hermione and Ron's gazes snapped to him. "What do you think we've been doing these past weeks?" Ron asked indignantly, not knowing it but almost directly mirroring Hermione's words the night before the first task.

"Yeah yeah, but Neville came through for me." He jerked his head at the boy who'd just arrived; Harry happily noticed he'd brought the book. "There's this thing called gillyweed, it's some kind of magical plant that gives someone gills. I need to know where I can find it in the castle."

Hermione scrambled to her feet and briskly walked to Neville. Grabbing the book from his hands, which he'd astutely kept open to the page, she scanned it quickly, finding gillyweed on the page.

"Gillyweed, gillyweed," she muttered to herself. Dropping the book on a nearby chair, she lunged to her own bag. "I remember gillyweed being in a book I took out for light reading on potions, if I can only find it…" At this point she was just giving a running commentary of what she was searching for, because she certainly wasn't talking to them. His friend was flipping through a very boring looking book with what must have been six hundred pages. 'Light reading?' Ron mouthed to Harry in disbelief.

"Aha! Here it is. Gillyweed is used in The Brew of Subaqueous Breathing, pretentious name isn't it?" Not waiting for a response, Hermione continued in her 'teacher's voice', "so if it's anywhere in the castle, Snape has it."

Harry groaned to himself, "Great, the teacher who most wants me dead is the one I need to get it from."

"Harry!" Hermione said reproachfully.

Ginny unexpectedly got up, eyes still fastened on Harry causing his heart to skip a beat, and leaned in so her mouth was near his ear. "I don't know about you, but if I was in this situation, I'd get Fred and George's help, since it looks like you need a distraction."

The champion looked at her, surprised with her cunning. He muttered back, very aware of the other's eyes on them, "And what? Steal it in the middle of class?"

"Exactly," she said confidently, "they should be able to get you something that buys you enough time to sneak in and grab some."

He looked at her thoughtfully for a second before nodding decisively and looking around the room for either of the twins. Spotting Fred sitting off to the side, an arm around Angela (his date to the ball), Harry made his way over.

"Do you know where George is?"

He looked at Harry with a bit of surprise before shaking his head, "He went off somewhere with Lee. What can I help you with?" He asked bringing his arm from around the girl and leaning forward, elbows resting on his knees.

"Well I… er-," Harry broke off uncertainly, not knowing if he should be bringing this up in front of Angela.

Harry noticed she was barely concealing a grin, apparently knowing that Harry had to talk to Fred about something outside the rules. "I'm going to talk to Alicia, let me know when your done with you," her gaze flipped between Harry and Fred, "business."

She left and the older boy looked at Harry expectantly. "I figured out the egg clue, and need something from Snape's office to complete the second task. Ginny recommended I come to you for something to distract the class with; when they're distracted, I sneak in and nab what I need. You have something like that?"

Fred's eyes lit up, "Yeah, Filibuster's No-Heat Fireworks. They're exactly what you need. When's your potions class?"

Harry looked away awkwardly, "Umm.. tomorrow. First class of the day."

"Well then I'd better get you some." Fred said, getting up. "Nice to see you're following in the footsteps of the Marauders." He said, speaking quietly into Harry's ear, so no others could hear.

Harry returned to his friends, who at this point, were all looking at him expectantly. "Well?" Ginny asked.

Harry gave her a meaningful glance and responded, "He has something I can use."

"What are you needing from Fred?" Hermione asked worriedly, knowing full when that the only reason Harry would need either of the twins, would be to do something against the rules.

"How about I just don't tell you, and you pretend I'm not breaking any rules." Harry suggested, hoping (but not expecting) Hermione would agree. To his surprise she just nodded and looked away. 'She must be fretting about me a lot more than she's let on', Harry realized.

Fred came back down holding his bag and beckoned Harry over to him. "How long of a distraction are you needing?"

Harry thought about it for a second. It's not like gillyweed would be that hard to find, it's image looked very unique, but he might as well give himself as much time as possible. "As much time as you can get me."

Fred nodded conspiratorially, "Then you'll need Ron to set this off, and you sneak in. He knows how so you don't need to explain it to him." He shifted around in his bag for a second before pulling out a very boring looking firework. It was steel gray with the only color difference being bright red writing in all capital letters saying 'CHAIN REACTION', one word on either side'.

"Um what's it do?"

"This here is the firework that'll carry on Filibuster's legacy of causing chaos, whether it be in an open field, or a potions classroom," he explained, winking at Harry. "After it's fired it goes a distance, predetermined by the wand user who activates it, and then explodes in a star shape. Each point of the star does the same, but smaller. Each point of each smaller star does the same, but smaller yet. Each level fizzes out, and the firework leaves no remnant behind. The perfect distraction," Fred said proudly.

"Thanks," Harry said brightly, feeling like he again had a chance in the second task.

He made his way over to Ron and gestured with his hand, "Can I talk to you for a second?" Hermione, Ginny, and Neville were all looking at him curiously. "I'll explain tomorrow," he said; Ron got up and followed him to an empty table.

"What is it?" His friend asked, surprisingly having the forethought to keep his voice low.

"There is likely gillyweed in Snape's storage, can you provide a distraction for me so I can slip in and grab it?" Ron looked unsure for a second, "This firework will do all the work, you just need to fire it at the Slytherins while the potion's at a crucial moment. In the chaos, I'll sneak in. There's no residue from it, so Snape will have no way of pinning it on you unless he actually sees you doing it."

Ron's face cleared up at that last point; Harry could certainly understand his friend's hesitation towards pissing off their least favorite professor. "Yeah sure I can, but Hermione did that too… why are you keeping it from her?"

Had she? A memory snapped into focus, their second year, when she'd stole some of Snape's materials to create the Polyjuice Potion. The only reason she'd have a problem with it this time is if Ron or Harry got caught. "I don't really know. I suppose I just instinctively try and not involve her if it involves rule breaking."

His friend chortled, "She may be stiff-necked but she'll break rules as willingly as either of us. She's been helping you research this whole time, and we both know that's not allowed."

oo0oo

Harry woke up, exhausted on Thursday, having not fallen asleep till early morning hours due to being infused with adrenaline over what he needed to do today. He was going to steal something from Snape's private storage, and with how much the man hated him, it was enough to start anyone's heart beating faster. He dressed and put the evidence into one of his cloak pockets; he'd give it to Ron when they went to their separate cauldrons. He'd worked it out with them the previous night, Ron would work with Hermione, and Neville would work with Harry, rather than the usual. The only reason the partner changing would work is because each pair had a certain amount of tasks to complete each day of work, and couldn't go farther. There'd be enough distance between them for Snape not to suspect they were in this together, in the unfortunate instance that he saw the firework fired.

While sitting at breakfast with the others, he had to consciously stop himself from patting his hair. Trying to make his hair lay straight was an annoying symptom of anxiety post ball, regardless of whether or not he had to look good. He finished his meal and relaxed, waiting for Ron and Hermione (he was too nervous to eat much) and made eye contact with Ginny, who was working on a fried egg. It had been several weeks since they'd kissed; neither of them had been able to look at each other, let alone talk to each other, for days afterword. The awkwardness slowly faded though, and Harry felt Ginny's eyes on him more and more as time passed. He'd never acknowledged her though, sticking true to his plan of pretending the kiss hadn't happened. Harry had seen the happiness fade from her eyes slowly, as days elapsed, and her hope of actually having something disappeared as well. She'd become just a normal friend now; someone for him to go to for help, and have fun with when there weren't pressing matters to attend to.

She met his eyes and sat there gazing at him, no move being made by either. Harry saw her forefront emotion was determination, to come across as a strong girl. Several emotions later, almost too deep for him to see, he saw depression. He knew she was thinking that the kiss was a one time thing (Harry certainly hoped she was wrong) and was trying to come to terms with the fact that he didn't have feelings for her. It wasn't the case, not even close, he just didn't know what to do, what to say, and really didn't want to say the wrong thing.

Plus, he'd needed to push any relationship business aside and deal with the second task, after that he could worry about things like relationships.

His friends got up from the table, and he quickly followed suit, breaking eye contact with Ginny. They made their way down to the dungeons; Harry would have been dreading his final potions class before the second task if there wasn't so much at stake. Malfoy had been making constant comments about the Hogwarts champions, about how _POTTER STINKS_ and people should _support Cedric Diggory, the REAL Hogwarts champion_, as his badges said, were always being flashed around the room. Snape never stopped the harassment either, not that Harry had expected him to, Malfoy was his favorite student, and Harry was his most hated.

They were working on a project in potions; it just finished its soaking phase, now they needed to add a series of ingredients, and the ingredients needed to be measured exceptionally precisely for there not to be a mistake.

"Here, take over slicing up the boomslang skin when Ron fires. He should be firing in a minute." Neville nodded.

Harry looked up at the clock, in three… two… one….

There was a very loud and chaotic series of bangs as the firework went off right by Crabbe's cauldron; all eyes in the room snapped to it as the cauldron exploded, coating Crabbe, Goyle, Malfoy, and Pansy in yellow goo. A half second later huge ugly boils started erupting on their skin.

Harry didn't notice as he had already slipped into Snape's storage room and started frantically trying to find the gillyweed; it didn't seem to have any organization though, not chronologically, and certainly not alphabetically.

Hearing Snape's disgusted voice start to quiet down, apparently he'd finished assessing the situation, Harry had a moment of desperation before remembering the summoning spell. "Accio gillyweed!" he whispered decisively. A small bundle of what looked like water weeds zoomed to him from a one of the room's corners. He shoved it in his pocket and quickly snuck back to his seat.

Harry sighed in relief when he saw that the potions professor hadn't noticed his absence, and sat back down in his desk imperiously. "Well get back to work!" Snape snapped, angry about having to send four Slytherins to the hospital wing, especially when he couldn't find any proof of tampering or foul play.

oo0oo

A/N: Hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review :D

Geheim


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